Clara Schumann Wieck learned to compose, and from childhood to middle age she produced a good body of work. Clara wrote that "composing gives me great pleasure... there is nothing that surpasses the joy of creation, if only because through it one wins hours of self-forgetfulness, when one lives in a world of sound". At age fourteen she wrote her piano concerto, with some help from Robert Schumann, and performed it at age sixteen at the Leipzig Gewandhaus with Mendelssohn conducting. As she grew older, however, she became more preoccupied with other responsibilities in life and found it hard to compose regularly,
Friedrich Wieck to spreading vicious rumours against the couple. He sent copies of his court documents to every city where Clara was planning to give concerts. When she traveled to Hamburg and Berlin to perform, he sent letters claiming that Clara's playing had declined. Striking an emotional blow against Clara, he began to promote the career of a rival female pianist, Camilla Pleyel. In July 1840, the court ruled against Wieck, and it gave consent to the marriage. Schumann then sued Wieck for slander and won. Wieck was forced to pay the couple a large sum, and he was sentenced to jail