The young Clara Schumann, née Wieck (1819–1896) played for Goethe in Weimar shortly after her twelfth and his last birthday. Weimar was the first stop on her first concert tour arranged by her father, Joseph Wieck. On 1 Oct. at midday, they had an audience with the 83-year old Goethe. “Clara had to sit next to him on the sofa. Soon his daughter-in-law [Ottilie] came with her two intelligent looking children. [.] Clara was now requested to play, and since the chair at the piano was too low, he himself got a pillow from the foyer and adjusted it for her.” Clara also played a public concert in Weimar and a second time for the poet. Impressed by her performance, Goethe remarked that “She plays with as much strength as six boys”. As a sign of appreciation, Goethe gave Clara a bronzen portrait-medallion, on the back of which he had inscribed a note: “For the gifted artist Clara Wieck.” A highly complimentary review of her Weimar performance appeared in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in March 1832, the same month Goethe died. In light of her early memorable meeting with Goethe, it is surprising that only one song setting of his poetry remains. Yet Clara and Robert Schumann considered setting additional Goethe texts, as is clear from the entries in their “Abschriften von Gedichten zur Komposition” (transcriptions of poems to compose). Clara entered twelve Goethe poems, including “Das Veilchen”, the only one she composed, while Robert entered two more.
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