Brahms the Enigma...

Brahms has always been rather an enigma to me as a person. He lacks that handle on his biography that attracts attention, for instance the madness of Schumann or the parading around Paris with a woman dressed as a man i.e. Chopin and George Sand. In contrast, there is no sensational element in Brahms' life. If there is a close encounter, it would be the fascination with his relationship with Clara Schumann. Many assert they were lovers, others say they had a mother/son relationship. The fact remains that she was a widow 14 years older than Brahms, and had eight children when Schumann died in 1856. Brahms was only 23 at the time, and hardly in a position to take on such an adventure. What did develop was a lifelong friendship, with Brahms a devoted presence and Clara somewhat more demanding, often acting rather imperially and somewhat critically. She was remarkably independent for her time, but don't forget the fact that she had been before the public as a child prodigy from a very early age.

When I was in my late teens I had quite a few lessons with Carl Friedberg, who was one of the last students of Clara Schumann, and who went to Brahms for coaching on a major part of the Brahms repertoire. He often spoke about both of them. His comments on the relationship of Brahms and Clara Schumann asserted that there was no real romance in the conventional sense. For him, it was more of a mother/son relationship. Friedberg spoke of the fact that Brahms' mother was 17 years older than his father, so Brahms had witnessed a marriage of an older woman and much younger man at close range. Don't forget that Brahms was close at hand when Schumann was in his last months in the sanitorium. Clara was not allowed to visit her husband for TWO YEARS, and then only at the very end. Friedberg told the story of Brahms composing his Variations on a Theme by Schumann, taking Clara a variation each time he went to see her, to help distract her away from all the personal sorrow and angst she was experiencing. I have always been struck by this story, and have never read any reference to it, rather it was just handed to me by someone who knew them both.

During Brahms' life the art of photography grew by leaps and bounds, and we have quite a treasury of photos of him, starting around the age of 14. By the age of 20 Brahms was attracting huge attention, particularly through the famous article written about him by Robert Schumann in the Neue Zeitscrift fur Musik, his periodical that made the rounds of the music world at that time. Schumann proclaimed Brahms a genius, the next great German composer. The result was instant fame at the age of 20. Music publishers appeared, many of Brahms early works were published, and in a few years he was on the way to becoming both world famous and a wealthy man before age 30.

The appearance on the scene of the Austrian violinist Joesph Joachim around 1853, at the time Schumann was touting Brahms to the world, was another life changer for both Clara and Johannes. Both of them accompanied Joachim at the piano, and the three of them toured around Germany, causing a great deal of comment, as Joachim was only two years older than Brahms, and Clara was well into her 30's. They were true Bohemians!

In 1853 a rather unusual composition appeared, written jointly by Schumann, Brahms and Schumann's talented student Joesph Dietrich. Called the "F A E" Sonata (Frei aber Einsam) it was so named by Schumann. "Free but Lonely". Rather a Werther approach to life, "The Sorrows of Werther" by Goethe being wildly popular at the time, with many young men affecting the melancholy and "mad with love" character of Werther. The sonata was not published until the 1930's, remaining in the hands of Joachim until his death. I played it many times with Jack Bauer in our early years at USC.

Brahms moved to Vienna at the age of 29, and was warmly received. His first associations were with singing groups, writing and conducting choral music. But rather quickly he withdrew into intense composition of his symphonies, chamber music and piano and vocal music. He was methodical, like a good Saxon, and often social, although one reads more antedotal accounts, and rarely more personally probing accounts. I like Jan Swafford's new biography of Brahms, as he paints a more intimate picture of Brahms in these Viennese years. Carl Friedberg said you could set your clock by Brahms' daily constitutional around Vienna. Brahms was a great walker, striding forth with his hands behind his back, erect in statue. One of the favorite photos I found was that of Brahms standing in his studio apartment, holding a cigar, looking at the camera with a wistful gaze. Jan Swafford emphasizes that Brahms was undemanding in his personal needs, taking refuge in his books and music, and his apartment meticulously kept by his adoring housekeeper.

All these thoughts went into a new "Conversations in Music" I did October 21 for students and public at Charleston Southern University. I have taken my older concept of "Piano Portraits" in a new direction, leaving space to take a composition apart for the audience, explaining how I approach learning it, trying to make it more understandable for the average listener. Brahms' Rhapsody in E Flat, Opus 119 proved a good choice, particularly in that passage that rather sounds like the zither playing the theme from "The Third Man". The students sat up when I played a snippet from "The Third Man"! One must be daring these days. My reward was several students coming up at the end, wanting to know how they could learn more about Brahms