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 Court of Appeals for permission to be married without his consent. Wieck threatened that if Clara did not give up Robert, he would disinherit her, deprive her even of the money she had earned herself and tie the pair up in legal proceedings for 3–5 years. On July 2, 1839 Schumann's attorney tried to negotiate with Wieck but was unsuccessful. On July 16 Schumann filed a complaint against Wieck. The court scheduled a meeting for Wieck, Clara and Robert but when the day came Wieck did not appear, pleading that he was too busy. He then offered to settle with