Clara Schumann became a widow at the age of 37. From then on she had to care for and feed eight children on her own.
Johannes Brahms, then 23, would remain by her side, figuratively speaking, until Clara died in 1896. For forty years, they would maintain a close correspondence. Johannes, offering his love with brotherly affection in the lively hope that something would materialize. Clara, affectionate, but maintaining the right distance that would not lead to the estrangement of the faithful friend who cared for her beloved Robert during the last two years of his life.
Clara, an outstanding pianist
Clara needed support, of course, but she solved her helplessness by working. An outstanding pianist of the stature of Liszt and Thalberg, despite her status as a female concert pianist at the core of the 19th century, she was able to carry out an active professional career, giving acclaimed and well-paid concerts throughout Europe.
Brahms, a helpmate
So Brahms's encouragement did not contemplate any economic dimension but was simply expressed in the friendly word that helped to overcome states of despondency, and perhaps something more, when they both decided to replace the pronoun Sie (formal you) with the more familiar du (you) in their correspondence. It was also the time when Brahms began to dedicate part of his work to Clara.
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| Clara Schumann (1819 - 1896) |
Brahms dedicated a total of thirteen works, in various genres, to Clara, in forty years. In 1892, in a composer's stage of fullness, five years before his death, he offered Clara what would be his penultimate work for solo piano, the Six Pieces of Opus 118. Absolute master of his art, the author has returned to the small forms, and to the intimate richness of the unique and so beloved timbre of the piano, without fuss. Perhaps the last colloquy, the last confidence, from Brahms to Clara.
More than with any previous set of miniatures, with opus 118 Brahms achieved a work that functions as a whole. And this is how it is generally performed, even when the particular beauty of some of its pieces moves performers to offer it as an encore in their performances, as is the custom with the second in the series, the popular Intermezzo in A major.
