I realize the title of this post sounds musicologically irreverent. But that’s the point on Meet the Composers! Anyhow, during a piano lesson one day, my teacher said that Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms were like the Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher of their day. And I agreed. Clara Schumann was a beautiful and successful woman 15 years Johannes’ senior. And Johannes Brahms (at least in his younger years) was quite the babe. Of course, Clara was married to Robert Schumann, and was on very friendly terms with Johannes. Johannes Brahms befriended both Clara and Robert when he visited one day with his compositions and asked to have Robert’s opinions on his compositions. After that, they were lifelong friends.
Clara was a very successful pianist, and had a performing career that spanned about 60 years! She had a hand at composing also, but lacked the self-confidence (because she was a woman) to continue writing after the age of 30. The fact that she had such a long career (male or female) is absolutely amazing. She was the main breadwinner in the family and even performed while she was pregnant - a definite taboo in her time. When she was gone on long tours, Johannes looked after the kids (all 8 of them!) and helped her around the house. He actually postponed his own compositional career to help Clara for two years at one point.
Clara’s husband, Robert, tried to commit suicide by drowning in the Rhine River, he was immediately institutionalized and died two years later of self-induced starvation. This was definitely the biggest tragedy of Clara’s life (not to mention one of her son’s was also institutionalized), and no doubt, Johannes was there to console her and help her out as needed.
They had a very deep friendship, but we’re really not sure if they ever “crossed the line” and expressed their affection for each other romantically. I’m sure, at the least, it was always under the surface, subcutaneously throbbing. It would have probably been considered a scandal for them to consummate their relationship - one being a widow and the other an inveterate bachelor. It is interesting to note that Johannes Brahms refused to marry throughout his life, as he had seen very negative images of women as a youth. He had played in brothels as a young man and stated that the image of women in these places had done enough to turn him off to the idea of marriage.
Ironically, though, he was a very stable influence in Clara’s life and it may have suited them to get married. But, of course, the society would have had otherwise and they simply remained passionate friends.
This Composition was posted on Tuesday, May 12th, 2009 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this Composition through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.