LA MÚSICA PARA CLARA

Novel based on the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann

Elizabeth Subercaseaux' mother, Gerda Sommerhoff, was the granddaughter of Elise Schumann, one of Robert and Clara's daughters. She grew up listening to stories about Clara Schumann and her husband, the composer-genius who died at the age of forty-six in the mental asylum of Endenich. During her entire life as a writer she promised herself that some day she would write a novel based on the lives of Robert and Clara Schumann, but she would do it only when she had truly understood them, their voices, their grief, and their happiness so that she could become a part of them and begin to tell their story from a place deep in-side her. After four years of conducting research this book has now come to see the light of day – a novel closely based on their lives, including even the most intimate details, but first and foremost a fiction. In alternating chapters, Clara and Robert tell their story in first person, Clara nar-rates from her home in Frankfurt at the age of seventy-seven, one year before her death. She is living with her eldest daughter Marie, as well as her youngest daughter Eugenie. From time to time she is visited by another daughter, Elise, who also lives in Frankfurt. Clara speaks of her life in the present, allowing her imagination to take flight as she reflects upon the profound tragedy that her life has been. She recalls the highlights of her career as a pianist, the sorrow that virtually overwhelms her each time she loses one of her children to death, and the tragic culmination of her life with Robert who is institutionalized in a mental institution. Robert tells his story from Endenich at the age of forty-five, one year prior to his death. Without reservation and with all the love she feels for Robert and Clara Schumann, Elizabeth Subercaseaux tells the story of the life of these two artistic giants who never surrendered to the ter-rible forces of destiny. Both disturbing and enlightening novel painting a sea of sorrow transformed by the incredible musical genius of these two artists. . ELIZABETH SUBERCASEAUX, a writer and journalist was born in 1945 in Chile. At the age of 17 she worked as a journalist in Chile's underground, where today she is a celebrated bestselling au-thor. Her novels A Week in October and An Almost Perfect Affair gained in-ternational and critical success. She is the award winning and bestselling au-thor of over twenty books of fiction and non-fiction. She lives in Pennsylvania.