Robert and Clara Schumann

In this month’s episode, Professor Laura Tunbridge and tenor Ian Bostridge joined us to discuss the life and work of composer Robert Schumann.

Throughout the 2026/27 Season at Wigmore Hall, Ian Bostridge is presenting a Portrait of Robert Schumann through a series of concerts which digs deeply into the heart of the composer’s romantic Lieder, exploring timeless song cycles and works that speak to the human condition. Robert Schumann’s songs, many of them written in what proved to be his ‘miraculous year’ of song in 1840, reflect a world of turbulent personal emotions and feelings of love for Clara Wieck, his muse and future wife.

Ian is joined in conversation by Professor Laura Tunbridge, Heather Professor of Music at the University of Oxford, whose research interests include many aspects of German Romanticism, including the works of Robert Schumann.