Clara hired a piano teacher. In a letter to her parents she said, “His slender fingers fascinated me from the first time I saw him play. "

As soon as Clara disappeared, her husband ordered all likenesses of her taken down from the walls of the mansion and forbade her name to be uttered by anyone.

THE WIFE AND THE PIANO TEACHER BY UTE CARSON 34THPARALLEL MAGAZINE ISSUE 22

It was 1829 when Clara, then 29, sat for her family portrait. Her eyes were dreamy, fawn-like, and unruly ringlets dangle…