Anne Ozorio responded to me:

>>What I've herad has been good but not great, although Clara piano
>>concerto (written at 17 or so) shows great promise but nufortunately
>>she decided to sacrifice her career for his.
>
>Sorry, Deryk, not quite.  She was a workaholic from childhood right to
>the end of her life.  Pregnancy and childbirth annoyed her because it
>made her take time off work.  It was she who managed a lot of the couple's
>business dealings and was much tougher than R.  When they fled Dresden
>in 1848 (leaving the kids without proper attention) it was she who went
>back to get stuff he left behind.  She was after all the tough cookie
>who stood up to her father and helped R sue the old man in order to marry
>her.  R died when she was quite young so she might have written more,
>but she couldn't stop touring and playing.  She claimed they needed the
>money, true, but they weren't exactly poor either.

Aside from your final sentence everything you said agreed with me -
all that work was for his career as a composer, not hers.

I also adduce this extract from Clara's diary for 1839, the year she
turned 20:

   "I once thought that I possessed creative talent, but I have
   given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose - not
   one has been able to do it, and why should I expect to?"

Deryk Barker
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