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Historians have shown us that Robert knew Clara Weick as a young child. He was in the periphery of the Weick family on a near-constant basis. Eventually they married, against Clara’s fathers’ strong admonitions. Have you ever wondered what Robert Schumann’s personal life was like waiting for Clara to come of age?
Stephanie Quinn has been a fan of Clara since she was a child and even named her piano after her. Before joining a concert tour in Germany in 2023, she spent some days in Leipzig exploring museums and manuscripts of Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, and of course, the Schumann’s.
It was at the Schumann Hausse she found another Clara fan. During the hours pouring over every exhibit, and after playing the piano Clara father built for her, her new friend mentioned that Robert had a child before marrying Clara.
A woman who grew up with Robert knew he would go down in history as a famous classical musician and wanted the world to know of their secret.
She left a trail of bread crumbs, leading to the truth. In 2021, a Leipzig historian followed those crumbs in churches, hospital, and Robert’s own diaries. Together it tells a tale of Robert’s sexual activities, a love story spanning years, and a mothers love for her child of Robert Schumann.
Stephanie is offering this to AAPF musicians as an insight to Robert’s inner life before his marriage to Clara. The diaries Clara and Robert kept during their marriage show a strong and romantic bond. It appears that Clara’s strength and influence most likely effected his redemption.
About Stephanie Quinn
Her music education began in the Chicago area at age ten, at the American Conservatory of Music. Stephanie is a direct musical descendant of Clara Schumann through her teacher William Browning, a protege of Carl Friedberg, who was Clara Schumann's finest student. She later received the Eastman School of Music Merit Scholarship to pursue a double major in both violin and piano.
Later, she focused professionally on violin and continued her study in New York City with Juilliard professor Felix Galimir. She would then perform with the Philharmonia Virtuosi of New York in Carnegie Hall. After arriving back in Chicago, she studied with Gerardo Ribeiro.
Today, she performs in the Western North Carolina area with several chamber and orchestra music groups and travels as a soloist to Chicago and other cities for major events. Her music education studio has produced music scholarship winners and recording artists and nurtures amateur chamber groups that include both young and adult students. A member of the Music Teachers National Association, Suzuki Association of the Americas, SAG / AFTRA, ASCAP, and Toastmasters International, Stephanie is also a public speaker.