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Shortly before their wedding, in September 1840, Robert Schumann gave his beloved fiancee, Clara Wieck, his newly composed song cycle – Frauenliebe und Leben.

This remarkable work, now embedded in the canon of classic lieder, has been loved for its marvellous music for generations. But Adelbert von Chamisso's eight poems, which form the lyric of the cycle, are merely tolerated; or worse they are seen as somewhat embarrassingly overblown and sentimental.

However, recently, Professor Elissa Guralnick has published a fascinating essay: 'Ah Clara, I am not worthy of your love', in which she argues that Frauenliebe und Leben should not be seen simply as 'Glorious music' with 'ridiculous words', but understood as a fascinating interplay between word and music. An interplay which expresses not only Schumann's worship of his adored Clara, but his fears and insecurities that he was not worthy of her love.

CLARA'S GIFT will be a dramatic evening of performance. Professor Guralnick's insights will interplay with moments from the song cycle, with spoken extracts from Janice Galloway's biography of Clara Wieck, 'Clara', and also from Robert and Clara's letters to each other. Chamisso's poetry, in a new English translation by Steve Trafford, will be heard afresh. All these threads will interweave to create a fascinating and unusual music/theatre experience, culminating in a complete performance of the song cycle itself.

CLARA'S GIFT will premiere in Leeds, in October 2008, as a special Leeds Lieder event. Professor Guralnick herself will present her ideas, and all the spoken texts will be performed by actress, Elizabeth Mansfield. Dame Janet Baker is expected to participate in the post performance discussion.

• Dr. Elissa Guralnick, Professor of English at University of Colorado, Boulder, USA, recently published her article about Schumann's song cycle FRAUENLIEBE UND LEBEN entitled 'Ah Clara, I am not worthy of your love': Rereading 'Frauenliebe und Leben': Oxford University Press 2006. In this compelling and controversial piece, she proposes a fresh reading of the poetry and music of Schumann's song cycle, particularly in relation to Clara Wieck.


• Abstract: In setting Chamisso's Frauenliebe und Leben, Schumann discovered in the poems a subtext that he reflected in the music. Although the heroine of the poems manifestly aspires to be humble and submissive, as was widely expected of women in her day, she emerges, to those who read closely, as more independent and spirited than she herself knows. By shaping details in his songs' vocal line, Schumann captures the heroine's independence of spirit, as well as her resentment when her husband proves unequal to her high expectations; and by casting the piano as the heroine's husband, Schumann gives voice to a man's inner fears of disappointing or injuring the woman he loves. Schumann's music thus offers a penetrating insight into the Frauenliebe poems, even while expressing the composer's own deep anxieties, on the eve of his marriage, about his worthiness to wed the prodigiously gifted Clara Wieck.

An Ensemble theatre production for LEEDS LIEDER

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD explores the relationship of human beings to our most precious resource, water - Water as life giver, as life taker, as a substance of extraordinary beauty and of terrifying power. And in a world of changing climates, this new theatre piece takes us on a journey where we come face to face with ourselves in water's reflective light.

In TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD different cultures and art forms combine to mirror the universality of its theme: Indian Khattak and African dance flow through original spoken text - Songs of Africa and the European Baroque cascade into the Dastgahs of classical Persian music - Moving video images echo and interplay with live performance.

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD was developed during workshops, at the Farnham Maltings, which took place in the summer of 2005. These workshops were funded by the Arts Council of England. In July 2006, further workshops took place in the new SOUTH WING at the Farnham Maltings, with a showcase presentation held on July 5th 2006. The Arts Council were invited and attended.

TWO THIRDS OF THE WORLD was scheduled to go into its final development and rehearsal stage in the spring of 2008, at the Farnham Maltings, as a co-production with York Theatre Royal. 20 performances were successfully scheduled at venues all over the UK. We were working with WATERAID, to lead discussions on global warming after every performance, and were offering a rich workshop package to go into schools, together with a full Education Pack. Spelthorne Borough Council had enthusiastically agreed to fund this aspect of the work.

However, The Arts Council refused to fund this exciting project. The reasons given in the Arts Council s letter of refusal to us were as follows:

“Artistic – development. It was not clear enough how your artistic idea and practice would show (or lead to) artistic development. Public benefit – clear benefit. It did not clearly show the public benefit of the activity.”

Ensemble pointed out to ACE that 20 venues had booked the show and were quite clear about what artistic idea and practice were entailed, and how the public would benefit. ACE informed us that they no longer speak to the venues when assessing applications for funding.