Trio: A Novel Biography of the Schumanns and Brahms Kindle Edition

The trio comprises three musical geniuses: Robert and Clara Schumann and Johannes Brahms. Clara married Robert with whom she fell in love when she was just sixteen, though it meant challenging the iron will of her father who wished her to marry an earl or a count, certainly not an impoverished composer. The Schumanns had eight children and Robert’s greatness as a composer was never in doubt, but he was also mentally ill, attempted suicide, and finally incarcerated himself in an asylum where he died two and a half years later. Johannes Brahms entered the picture shortly before the incarceration and fell deeply in love with Clara, but was just as deeply indebted to Robert for getting his first six opuses published within weeks of their meeting. Clara was forbidden to see Robert in the asylum because the doctors feared she would excite him too much. Brahms became a go-between for the couple, ferrying messages to and from, but both loved Robert too well to abuse his trust. Brahms learned instead to associate deep love with deep renunciation—and, coupling this love with early experiences of playing dance music for sailors and prostitutes in Hamburg’s dockside bars, he became a victim to the Freudian conundrum: Where he loves he feels no passion, and where he feels passion he cannot love. Germany grows in the hinterland of the story from 400+ principalities to one nation under Bismarck. The great composers of the century (Mendelssohn, Chopin, Liszt, and Wagner among others) have their entrance and exits—and the ghosts of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert are never distant. Though firmly grounded in fact, the book unfolds like a novel, a narrative of love, insanity, suicide, revolution, politics, war—and, of course, music.A Kirkus Review BEST BOOK OF 2016!A riveting dramatization of musical history…. Desai has produced a magisterial work, which is clearly the result of astonishingly thorough research. Although the story revolves tightly around the three main figures, there are also fascinating cameos by such musical luminaries as Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, and Frederic Chopin, and he memorably depicts the ego-driven rivalries between them. Each has a unique personality, and the author does a lovely job of dramatizing their quirks.—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Boman Desai has dramatized the story of the Schumanns and Brahms in the form of a novel, citing their original correspondence among his sources. He has researched this most romantic of stories thoroughly, but writes so compellingly that it is like discovering the story anew. The great composers of the age make appearances when their lives intersect those of the trio, and I was glad to see that Desai presents them to us, warts and all, with the deepest sympathy and understanding. It is perhaps his greatest achievement that they appear as fullbloodedly as if they might have been his neighbors. Bravo!Zubin Mehta, ConductorIt’s a story that Tolstoy might have told in similar terms. It is surely a tour de force.Vernon A. Howard, Philosophy of Education Research Centre, Harvard UniversityI loved and admired this book.Diana Athill (Author/Editor: Instead of a Letter, Stet, Somewhere Towards the End)I loved your book. You completely transported me. I read it through at a gallop. Congratulations.Sooni Taraporevala (Screenwriter: Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Yeh Ballet)It is a massive achievement and I recommend TRIO wholeheartedly not only to music lovers but to all those who love to read.Bapsi Sidhwa (Author: The Crow Eaters, Cracking India, Water)Desai does a wonderful job describing the music. The language of TRIO is so vivid it makes one want to explore the composers’ repertoires.Chris Speck, Quarter Notes Read more