Mathilde Wendt (1855-1932)*

Mathilde Wendt, the daughter of the Karlsruhe classicist and school principal Gustav Wendt, first heard Clara Schumann in a concert with Joseph Joachim at the concert hall of the Berlin Singakademie music society. Unfortunately, Clara had to reject Wendt’s desire to take lessons with her, as she did not want to give lessons during her concert tours. She recommended Mathilde Wendt to come to Baden-Baden in the spring. However, Mathilde was engaged in Berlin and unable to take any lessons with Clara Schumann before 1873, when Clara moved to Berlin herself. The training, which continued until Clara and her daughters moved on to Frankfurt in 1878, resulted in a friendship that lasted until Clara Schumann’s death. Mathilde Wendt also assisted Clara with the transcription of the handwriting for the edition of Robert Schumann’s youth letters. She knew Brahms and many other artists from the circle of Clara Schumann and published her memories of Clara Schumann in 1919.

(J.M.N., translated by Th. H.)

*According to recent research by a great-great-granddaughter of Gustav Wendt and his wife Anna, née Dohrn, Mathilde Wendt, the sister of her great-grandmother, cannot have been the pupil of Clara Schumann described above. The eldest daughter of Gustav Wendt, born in 1855, lived continuously with her parents and in 1873 married a certain Otto Grumbacher in Karlsruhe at the age of eighteen, then remained in Karlsruhe and also died there in 1932. Concerning the piano pupil of Clara Schumann, this must apparently have been the sister of Gustav Wendt, who was also called Mathilde.

(Information provided by the great-great-granddaughter of Gustav Wendt on 13th October 2009, following research at the Karlsruhe municipal archive).

(Ingrid Bodsch, 13.10.2009, translated by Thomas Henninger, 2020)

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