Clara's Father and Clara's Sister

I stumbled across an amusing and interesting book in the IMSLP. Frederick Wieck was, of course, the father of Clara Schumann.

Much of the book is written as a series of socratic-style dialogues and little plays concerning teaching music to children. It is a very interesting glimpse into a world most of us know about from what people wrote about Wieck and not from the man himself. The book first came out in 1853, and this 1882 translation by Mary Pickering Nichols was the first (and probably the last) translation of it into English. I imagine that it might be a scan from the translator's own copy because there is one instance when the word "shall" is crossed out, and the word "will" is written in its place.

Somehow, through all my years of reading about Clara Wieck Schumann, I missed out on learning much about her younger half sister Marie Wieck who also composed (here's a sample from a Scherzo for piano). Much of what Frederick Wieck talks about as a teacher rings true a century and a half later.