Our Schumann concerts in Berlin 2025

The Schumanns were an absolutely exceptional couple; Clara, the child prodigy on the pianoforte, Robert, the poet of words and sound. Both have gifted posterity with magnificent works, which our ROC ensembles perform for you in their Schumann concerts in Berlin!

Schumann concerts by the ROC in Berlin

While Robert Schumann was able to establish himself as a composer of distinction during his short lifetime, his wife Clara was already known as a child prodigy on the pianoforte, but her compositions were only of interest during her lifetime and then disappeared into drawers until the 1960s. Yet she not only shaped today's concert repertoire as a virtuoso, but also created compositions - at least until the death of her husband Robert - whose astonishingly lyrical touch reveals an unmistakable closeness to Romanticism, of which she was also a child.

The Schumanns – pioneers on diverging paths

Both Robert and Clara Schumann were pioneers – albeit in very different ways. Robert Schumann was a trailblazer of musical subjectivism. He consistently transformed emotional worlds and psychological depth into music, thus paving the way for composers such as Brahms, Mahler, and even Debussy.

Clara Schumann, on the other hand, had an entirely different path to follow. Beyond her legendary virtuosity at the piano and her impressive compositions, she was above all one thing: a woman in a domain almost entirely dominated by men at the time. Through her work and her performances, she helped women gain greater recognition as serious musicians and composers. Female composers such as Fanny Hensel, the sister of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Louise Farrenc, and Emilie Mayer – often called the “female Beethoven” – were fellow pioneers on this path. Still, Clara Schumann remained a singular figure, largely due to her fame and lasting legacy.

Schumann Concerts from the Height of the Romantic Era

Robert Schumann was – and remains – synonymous with musical Romanticism. His compositions are marked by expressive intensity, emotional turmoil, and an unwavering subjectivity – especially in his piano works, his four symphonies, and his chamber music. His later works, in particular, bear witness to his increasing psychological decline.

Clara’s compositions, by contrast, are clearly structured, elegant, and often technically demanding. What makes her a Romantic is her lyrical musical language and the almost introverted quality with which she used art as an expression of her inner self, along with her poetic forms. She was not a composer of program music, nor can she be called a revolutionary, but she was a Romantic through and through – in her own quiet, focused way. Clara Schumann embodied the spirit of Romanticism not only in her compositions but also in her performances.

Our ROC ensembles perform the compositions of Robert and Clara Schumann at the impressive venues that Berlin makes available to culture and classical music, such as the Philharmonie Berlin or the Konzerthaus am Gendarmenmarkt. Take part in a Schumann concert and let the music provide you with an unforgettable evening!