Time for some romantic indulgence. I’ve written multiple posts, probably hundreds of tweets, emphasizing Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann’s professional relationship.
But it was not strictly professional between them. It was also very personal. Music was love for Clara – thanks to her relationship with Robert – and that rubbed off on Johannes real fast. Love and music were intertwined and inseparable for them.
If you’ve not read about their professional relationship yet, please START HERE: How Clara Schumann was Brahms’s Mentor Not His Muse or watch the YouTube video
If you already know about THAT, you may luxuriate in some of young Johannes Brahms’s first love quotes to Clara Schumann. I say love “quotes” because, very few of the letters which survive are what I’d call “love letters.”
The format of his letters from 1854-56 was basically this: he talked about music, her concerts, his favorite composer of the week, and her kids. He told her musical jokes, shared industry gossip, and always mentioned Robert and hopes for his recovery. Then he’d get embarrassed he hadn’t composed anything to send her, asked when she’d be home, confessed how he longed for her, then maybe asked to kiss her hand. The end.
So they’re not love letters exactly, but some real romantic zingers amongst daily musician talk.
The key is – while Robert was alive until July 1856 – Johannes addressed Clara 90% of the time with FORMAL pronouns. In German, there are informal pronouns for family and lovers “Du,” but Johannes mostly stuck to the formal, respectful pronouns “Sie” in letters to Clara, pre-Robert’s death. They were clearly not lovers. His feelings were reverential loving admiration.
Yes, I mean it, Clara was not cheating on her husband. Johannes was exceedingly careful to remain respectful of her being a married woman.
But he still wrote some real heart-stoppers the winter of 1854-1855 . . .
Johannes Brahms’s first love declaration to Clara Schumann
The first time Johannes wrote Clara he loved her—it was a joke.
She was depressed her husband was in the hospital and exhausted by having to give concert tours to support the whole family. 21-year-old Johannes loved to make her smile:
“Would to God I were allowed this day instead of writing this letter to you to repeat to you with my own lips that I am dying of love for you. Tears prevent me from saying more! ~ Prince Brah”
Johannes to Clara, Dec. 15th 1854
Clara had given him a copy of 1001 Arabian Nights, so he copied this quote for her to entertain her. At the end of the month, Johannes wrote to Robert honestly about how much he admired and loved her:
“How long the separation from your wife seemed to me! I had grown so used to her uplifting presence and had spent such a magnificent summer with her. I had grown to admire and love her so much that everything seemed empty to me and I could only long to see her again.”
Johannes Brahms to Robert Schumann, Dec. 30th 1854
After giving 20 concerts across Germany between Oct. 26-Dec. 20, Clara spent Christmas at home then set off for the Netherlands, her first foreign tour without her husband in 13 years. Johannes joined her there for a week. The day after his return to her house in Düsseldorf, he wrote her a letter full of longing and levity:
“My beloved friend, Night has come on again and it is already late, but I can do nothing but think of you and am constantly looking at your dear letter and portrait. What have you done to me? Can’t you remove the spell you have cast over me? …
How are you? I did not want to ask you to write, but do so long for letters from you. Besides I know only too well how you are—you are holding your head up. So just write me a word or two occasionally and I shall be happy—just a friendly greeting to say that you are keeping well and that you will be back in 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 days!…
Do cheer me with writing me a few lines. I want them so badly but above all I want you.”
Johannes to Clara, Jan. 25th, 1855
Johannes’s next letter was entirely about comforting her against her worst fears for Robert. The following letter, after telling her about her children, Johannes writes:
“Your portrait is looking kindly down upon me and I should like to stay the night here, lost in thoughts of you; possibly you are thinking of me too. I feel as if you were.
Oh, if only the time could go by quickly. I long for peace—for you. If only you could be quite happy again! You have suffered long and severely enough… At the present moment I am thinking too much of you, and I get no peace… I have resolved to get some fine music paper and occasionally send you a song or a melody instead of my words. It is in any case more eloquent than my words, but I can’t send it to you without music paper!”
Johannes to Clara, Feb. 7, 1855
He adds a mournful melodic counterpoint exercise (which became the Adagio in his op. 36 sextet many years later) and hoped to start learning to write fugues. The next week, after news of Robert, he wrote:
“Beloved Frau Clara… You were vividly in my thoughts, and I had to lay my book aside because I so distinctly felt you sitting by me… How happy you have made me! I may be so bold as to breathe the gentlest of kisses onto your lovely hand…”
Johannes to Clara, March 3rd, 1855
“My Dearly Beloved Clara, There was no letter by the first post this morning from you. You have no idea how longingly I wait for every post… Every day now seems to me an eternity and I cannot settle down to anything or get myself to work. I cannot even play or think.”
Johannes to Clara, March 21st 1855
Clara came home for a few week’s reprieve. They studied theory together and Clara composed her final Romanze in B min. for his 22nd birthday. Josef Joachim gave Franz Liszt’s 4-hand arr. of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony to Johannes for his birthday. Clara and Johannes played it every day for weeks.
Clara left for more concerts, and Johannes wrote her every other day:
“My Clara… If only I could send you something really beautiful, which could plainly express my love for you and show you how much I long to have you back!”
Johannes to Clara, June 20th, 1855
“My Beloved Clara… You are quite right to be indignant about the abominable weather… I am so sick of the icy damp air… But, my beloved, you see, as soon as you are here again the sun will come out, and summer will return in all its glory. All that has happened is that it has lost sight of you. That is why it is mourning…
I always kiss the children from you, but I would very much like to give you the kisses back again.”
Johannes to Clara, June 23rd, 1855
“I cannot tell you how I long for your return. I can no longer exist without you. I want so much to be able to hold your hand again and to sit beside you. Everything and everybody seems to me so cold… Please go on loving me as I shall go on loving you* always and forever.
Wholly yours, Johannes”
Johannes to Clara, June 25th 1855
*This is one of the few exceptions where he slips in an informal “Du” pronoun, as though he accidentally forgot to write “Sie.”
“Beloved Frau Clara… I am really quivering with expectation of seeing you. Each time I am parted from you it becomes more difficult.”
Johannes to Clara, June 27th 1855
In July, they went on a walking tour together through the Rhineland – with a lady’s companion for a third wheel. If you’re wondering what Clara thought of all of this, her diary leaves clues:
“I cannot say what a pleasure I find it to enjoy all this with Johannes. He draws in great breaths of nature, and one grows young with him. It is true that I am often sad and that distresses him, but it is only natural that the more inspiring our surroundings, the heavier my heart should grow at the thought that my beloved husband is alone and forsaken whilst I am free to enjoy the glories of nature and the society of the best of friends…”
Clara Schumann’s diary, July 1855
And that’s the first year of their correspondence. There were 43 more years. Over 750 letters survive.
Lots more to say about this relationship beyond Johannes’s sweet love words. In case you haven’t read the following, here are some more blog posts with full details:
Why Clara was Johannes’s mentor not his muse
Why Clara and Johannes never married (Or why Johannes would’ve made a terrible husband)
The Clara Schumann Channel 