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Crossing Paths: Schubert, Schumann & Brahms.

Article Excerpt
By John Daverio. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002. [viii, 310 p. ISBN 0-19-513296-3. $49.95.] Music examples, illustrations, index.

John Daverio's new book probes various kinds of intersections among the three composers listed in the subtitle. Like all first-rate musicological work, the book blends purposeful speculation with meticulous research. Its organization into three parts is both logical and graceful, and each of the seven chapters has much to offer. Part 2 (chaps. 3-5) offers critical insight into the music of Robert Schumann and Johannes Brahms, and is not only the center hut also the heart of the book. Entitled "Uttering 'Clara' in Tones," these three chapters treat the expression of love for Clara Schumann in music of both her husband and Johannes Brahms. Daverio devotes the first of these chapters to evaluating the assumptions upon which the so-called Clara motive rests. Eric Sams first described this putative cipher almost four decades ago ("Did Schumann Use Ciphers?," Musical Times 106 (1965): 584-91); since then it has appeared in many exegeses of works by both Schumann and Brahms. After a preliminary exposure of weaknesses in Sams's methodology, Daverio pursues a number of related questions and, in so doing, summons a succession of vivid images of...

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