1844/1864 Königsberg

In 1844, Robert and Clara Schumann travelled from 25th of January until 30th of May to Russia and arrived after several stops in St. Petersburg and Moscow. One of these stops was Königsberg, where Clara gave two concerts in the beginning of February. Her repertoire included compositions of C. M. v. Weber, a “Nocturne” by Chopin, the Venezianisches “Gondellied” and the “Frühlingslied” by Mendelssohn, works of Henselt, Scarlatti, Liszt and Thalberg’s “Moses-Fantasie”. In both concerts, songs of Robert and Clara Schumann were performed as well (“Er ist gekommen” and “Liebeszauber”). Mendelssohn’s Frühlingslied became the favorite song of the audience and Clara had to repeat it several times, like in St. Petersburg, where she played in three times at her performance in front of the tsarina.

On her second tour to Russia, 20 years later, Clara Schumann gave four concerts in Königsberg. Virtuoso works by composers, such as Thalberg and Henselt, were no longer in her repertoire. She began her first concert with Beethoven’s sonata op. 21 no. 2. Concerning works of Schumann, she performed the beloved “Schlummerlied” op. 124 no. 6, two of the „Fantasiestücke“ op. 12, the Carnaval op. 9 and Andante and Variations for two pianos op. 46.
In Dec.ember 1865, Clara Schumann returned to Königsberg for two seperate concerts and interpreted among others five plays of Schumann’s Kreiserliana, the Beethoven sonata op. 53, Variations in C minor op. 80 also by Beethoven, one of the Novelletten and one of the “Nachtstücke” by Schumann, his piano quintet as well as two ballads of Brahms’ op. 10.

(Julia M. Nauhaus, translated by Katharina Ma)