SOUNDTRACK:
[READ: December 17, 2022] “Dearest Clara”
This year, S. ordered me The Short Story Advent Calendar. This is my fifth time reading the Calendar. I didn’t know about the first one until it was long out of print (sigh), but each year since has been very enjoyable. Here’s what they say this year
Like we always do at this time: the Short Story Advent Calendar is back for 2022. We had such a great time last year working with our first-ever guest editor, the one and only Alberto Manguel. This year, however, we’re bringing things back to basics. No overarching theme or format, just 25 top-class short stories, selected in-house, by some of the best writers in North America and beyond. It’s December 17. Lori Hahnel, author of Vermin, has practiced her scales enough for one day.
As Hahnel explains, “Dearest Clara” came out of the work I’ve been doing the past few years on a novel based on the life of Clara Schumann, the 19th-century German composer and pianist.
This is a few diary entries from Schumann (nee Clara Wieck).
The first entry is from17 September 1824, where we learn that Clara barely spoke but was clearly a piano prodigy. Her parents had separated and when she was five it was determined that Clara would live with her father, a renowned piano teacher.
The next entry is in 1832, where Clara has been on many tours. Her father is intense and driven. He is furious when they arrive in Paris and no one has shown up because of a cholera epidemic. He insists they play anyway and loses friends because of it.
The next entry is 1841, where she is now married to fellow student Robert Schumann (the famous composer). He loves her and loves her talent, but he wishes her to stay home so he can pursue his career despite her unparalleled skill.
In 1846 she has gone to the therapeutic waters in Norderney to get rid of a baby (she had given birth to a baby in July who was failing to thrive and by February was pregnant again).
But her personal life is upended when there is an uprising in Dresden. Clara has to rescue her family in the middle of the night.
This is a shockingly exciting story that I think would make a really interesting read.
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