News release Public Information Office   SLU 10880   Hammond, LA 70402   phone: 985-549-2341   fax: 985-549-2061 publicinfo@selu.edu     www.selu.edu/news Contact: Christina Chapple Date: 3/12/03   Click on image for publication quality photo FACULTY RECITAL FOCUSES ON MUSIC OF ROBERT AND CLARA SCHUMANN       HAMMOND -- A March 17 recital by Southeastern Louisiana University music colleagues Joy Ratliff, mezzo soprano, and Henry Jones, piano, will highlight one of classical music’s most famous couples, composers Robert and Clara Schumann.       The free 7:30 p.m. recital in the Pottle Music Building Auditorium is part of the Department of Music and Dramatic Arts’ spring Encore! series.       Clara Wieck was a child prodigy pianist and Robert Schumann was a student of her domineering father when the musical pair met in 1828. They overcame her father’s opposition to marry in 1840. That same year, Schumann composed more than 100 of his 250 Lieder – the songs for solo voice and piano that Ratliff and Jones will perform.       The Schumann’s marriage, which endured for 16 years and produced seven children, ultimately was marred by Robert’s mental instability. He spent his last two years in a mental institution, dying at age 46. Clara Schumann outlived her husband by 40 years.        Today, Schumann’s music is generally more highly regarded than his wife’s, but interest in Clara’s music has surged, especially among feminists, Ratliff said.       “Clara herself was not a feminist, but rather an intelligent and practical woman of her time,” she said. “Perhaps she was ahead of her time, in the sense that ‘she did it all.’”       The recital program will include five works by Robert Schumann, including a trio of vocal duets, and two by Clara Schumann. Ratliff will perform the three songs which Clara contributed to the song cycle, “Zwölf Gedichte aus Rückert’s ‘Liebesfrühling,’” that she composed in collaboration with her husband. Ratliff will be joined in Robert Schumann’s vocal duets by baritone James Flick, a graduate student from South Charleston, W.Va.        Ratliff joined the Southeastern faculty last year as voice professor and vocal coach for the Opera-Music Theatre Program. During a 15-year operatic career in Germany, she performed leading mezzo-soprano roles such as Carmen, Angelina, Suzuki, Cherubino, Hansel, Orlofsky and Octavian.        She previously taught at the University of Maryland and Marshall University in West Virginia and studied Italian in an intensive four-week course at Scuola Leonardo da Vinci in Florence.  A Southeastern graduate, Ratliff earned a master’s degree from Northwestern University (Illinois) and doctoral degree from the University of Maryland. She is an active oratorio soloist and recitalist.        After graduating from Yale University in 1978, Jones spent ten years in New York City as a free-lance vocal coach and accompanist. His credits include choral performances at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center and vocal recitals at Lincoln Center. He also was musical director of a gymnastic exhibition at Madison Square Garden, and Broadway and Off-Broadway shows, including “Evita,” “Jerome Robbins' Broadway,” and “The Fantasticks.”         Jones received his doctoral degree from Louisiana State University and taught at Minot State University in North Dakota and Missouri Southern State College in Joplin before joining Southeastern’s faculty. He was a winner of the LSU Symphony Concerto Competition, and was nominated several times for best musical director by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets.       For additional information about the recital call 985-549-2184. Return to News Releases