Ebook The Schumanns and Johannes Brahms

Hen I began to write down these Memoirs in the year 1920, I was guided by a definite intention. I find that erroneous statements are current concerning [the lives and characters of my brothers. To disprove these by giving a faithful picture of their personalities as they are revealed first-hand in their letters, seemed to me a duty to them not only as beloved brothers, but as sons of our parents. I am not sure that I had publication in view _i felt constrained to say how things had really been, and I started to write. One word led to another, one remembrance called forth a thousand. I wrote for the pleasure of writing I surveyed my life and lingered where I listed. The longer I wrote, the more it was my mother's personality which became the prominent one. On her eightieth birthday I surprised my sister Marie with the first five chapters. She was pleased with them. A kind publisher who read them gave me encouragement, and induced me to supplement and revise. I took up the pen once more and found that I had many more things to say. The disconnected chapters became a book. If I have given little in it, it is the best that I have to give, the memories of great and good characters, of great and good: times.