Various books and films have been devoted to the friendship between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann, often overlooking the manifold connections Brahms also had with other members of the Schumann family. Listeners and performers have been intrigued by stories of love and romantically inspired works with secret encoded musical messages. Indeed, triangular artistic relationships like that of Robert and Clara Schumann and Brahms are fascinating for many reasons, rarely to do with music – but can Clara Schumann be compared to Alma Mahler-Werfel or Cosima Bülow-Wagner? In reviewing the relationship, with recourse to unpublished letters from Clara Schumann’s correspondence with her family, the following focusses on the mutual artistic influences, dedications, Clara Schumann’s performances and Brahms’s editorial contributions to her complete edition of Robert Schumann’s works.

‘Today, my dear wife, née Nissen, successfully delivered a healthy boy. 7th May 1833. J. J. Brahms.’ Thus, on 8 May 1833Johann Jakob Brahms announced the birth of his first son Johannes in the local paper, the Privileged Weekly General News of and for Hamburg (Privilegirte wöchentliche gemeinnützige Nachrichten von und für Hamburg). At a time when such announcements were the exception, this was a clear sign of pride. Johann Jakob Brahms or Brahmst, as he also spelled it, was born on 1 June 1806 in Heide in Holstein, the second son of the innkeeper and trader Johann Brahms, who had moved to Heide from Brunsbüttel via Meldorf. His ancestors were from Lower Saxony. Johann Jakob completed a five-year apprenticeship as a city wait in Heide and Wesselburen, during which he learned the flugelhorn, flute, violin, viola and cello, then standard instruments. In early 1826, the young journeyman began his travels with his certificate of apprenticeship, received in December 1825.