Editing Clara Schumann (section)

=== Lasting relationships ===
==== Robert Schumann ====
[[File:Gedächtniskirche Leipzig-Schönefeld.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Gedächtniskirche Schönefeld|Schönefeld church]], where the Schumanns married on 12 September 1840]]
Robert Schumann was a little more than nine years older than Wieck. In 1837, when she was 18, he proposed to her and she accepted. Robert then asked her father for her hand in marriage.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=v. 1 p. xi}} Friedrich was strongly opposed to the marriage, and refused his permission. Robert and Clara decided to go to court and sue him. The judge allowed the marriage, which took place in [[Gedächtniskirche Schönefeld|Schönefeld church]] on 13 September 1840, the day before Clara's 21st birthday, when she attained [[age of majority|majority status]].{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=v. 1 pp. xii, xvi}}{{sfn|Worl|1997}} From then on, the couple maintained a joint musical and personal diary of their life together.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=v. 1 pp. 301–03}}

In February 1854, Robert Schumann had a mental collapse, attempted suicide, and was admitted, at his request, to a [[sanatorium]] in the village of [[Endenich]] near Bonn, where he stayed for the last two years of his life. In March 1854, Brahms, Joachim, [[Albert Dietrich]], and [[Julius Otto Grimm]] spent time with Clara Schumann, playing music for her and with her to divert her mind from the tragedy.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yit8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT61 v. 2 pp. 61–62, 69, 71]}} Brahms composed some private piano pieces for her to console her: four piano pieces and a set of [[Variation (music)|variations]] on a [[Theme (music)|theme]] by Robert Schumann that she had also written variations on a year earlier, as her [[Opus number|Op.]] 20. The music by Brahms was not intended to be published, but for her alone. Brahms later thought to publish them anonymously, but eventually they were issued as his four [[Ballades, Op. 10 (Brahms)|Ballades, Op. 10]], and ''[[Variations on a Theme by Robert Schumann]]'', Op. 9. Brahms dedicated the variations to both Schumanns, hoping that Robert would be released soon and rejoined with his family.{{sfn|Horne|1997|pp=98–115}}

For the entire two years of Robert Schumann's stay at the institution, his wife was not permitted to visit him, while Brahms visited him regularly. When it was apparent that Robert was near death, she was finally admitted to see him. He appeared to recognize her, but could only speak a few words.{{sfn|Daverio Grove|2001|p=20}} Robert Schumann died two days later, on 29 July 1856.{{sfn|Abraham|1998}}

==== Joseph Joachim ====
The Schumanns first met violinist [[Joseph Joachim]] in November 1844, when he was 14 years old.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=v. 1 p. 366}} A year later, Clara Schumann wrote in her diary that in a concert on 11 November 1845, "little Joachim was very much liked. He played a new violin concerto by [[Felix Mendelssohn]], which is said to be wonderful."{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yit8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT388 v. 2 p. 388]}} In May 1853, they heard Joachim play the solo part in Beethoven's [[Violin Concerto (Beethoven)|Violin Concerto]]. She wrote that he played "with a finish, a depth of poetic feeling, his whole soul in every note, so ideally, that I have never heard violin-playing like it, and I can truly say that I have never received so indelible an impression from any virtuoso." A lasting friendship developed between Clara and Joseph, which for more than forty years never failed her in things great or small, never wavered in its loyalty.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yit8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT41 v. 2 p. 41]}}

Over her career, Schumann gave over 238 concerts with Joachim in Germany and Britain, more than with any other artist.{{sfn|Reich Book|2001|p=206}} The two were particularly noted for their playing of [[Beethoven's violin sonatas]].{{sfn|Reich Book|2001|p=207}}

==== Johannes Brahms ====
[[File:Clara Schumann 1853.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Black-and-white photograph of a woman sitting, looking pensively, with her left hand resting in her lap, while her head leans on her right hand, dressed in a solid-black jacket and lighter skirt|Schumann in 1853]]

In early 1853, the then-unknown 20-year-old [[Johannes Brahms]] met Joachim and made a very favorable impression. Brahms received from him a [[letter of introduction]] to Robert Schumann, and thus presented himself at the Schumanns' home in Düsseldorf. Brahms played some of his piano solo compositions for the Schumanns, and they were deeply impressed.{{sfn|Litzmann Letters|1927}} Robert published an article highly lauding Brahms, and Clara wrote in the diary that Brahms "seemed as if sent straight from God".{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yit8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT42 v. 2 p. 42]}}

During Robert Schumann's last years, confined to an asylum, Brahms was a strong presence for the Schumann family.{{sfn|Reich Book|2001}} His letters indicate his strong feelings for Clara.{{sfn|Swafford Article|2003}} Their relationship has been interpreted as somewhere between friendship and love,{{sfn|Popova|2017}} and Brahms always maintained the utmost respect for her, as a woman and a talented musician.{{sfn|Swafford Article|2003}}

Brahms played his [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First Symphony]] for her before its premiere. She gave some advice about the Adagio, which he took to heart. She expressed her appreciation of the Symphony as a whole, but mentioned her dissatisfaction with the endings of the third and fourth movements.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=v. 1 pp. 322–23}} She was the first to perform many of his works in public, including the ''[[Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel]]'', a solo piano work written by Brahms in 1861.{{sfn|Litzmann Bio|1913|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Yit8CgAAQBAJ&pg=PT201 v. 2 p. 201]}}