Clara Schumann’s 193rd anniversary is the latest event to be celebrated by Google Doodles. The Internet search engine often makes alterations to its logo to mark holidays, anniversaries and the lives of artists, scientists and innovators.

A former child prodigy and wife to composer Robert Schumann, Clara was one of the most distinguished pianists of the 19th century, a close friend of Johannes Brahms, and herself a composer. 

In the Doodle, Clara is cocooned by her eight children, all lending a helpful hand at the piano. This joyous image paints a somewhat rosier picture than history relates: Clara's life was in fact marked by tragedy with four of these children and her husband dying before her. Her first child, Emil died at the age of one.



The Doodle follows Google's recent musical celebrations of singer Chabuca Granda, conductors José Pablo Moncayo and Sergiu Celibidache, and inventor of the electronic analog Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog.





Mark Seow