MARIA CALLAS CLARA SCHUMANN
... Maria Callas, who’s considered as the “diva” of the opera and especially the “bel canto”, and Clara Schumann, who’s one of the most important female composers of 19th century, are certainly two of this kind of woman. Both Callas and Schumann were highly supported by their families to have the right musical education. Clara’s parents helped her to perform her musical challenge by studying piano, violin, instrumentation and composition, as they were too involved in the music. Similarly, Maria’s parents worked really hard to lead a satisfactory life and pay for Maria’s singing studies; the family has even had to split up because of the difficult financial circumstances and her father remained in United States, while her mother returned to Greece with her daughters. ... Clara had the idea that women shouldn’t have been composers when she was young, as she wrote her diary in 1839:”I once thought that I possessed creative talent, but I have given up this idea; a woman must not desire to compose”. Maria, however, was a shy but willing girl. ... Clara Schumann was a courageous woman without any doubt, because otherwise she couldn’t have gotten married with Robert Schumann in spite of his fathers’ objections and filed a lawsuit without even waiting for her 21st birthday when she would be legally able to get married without her fathers’ consent.