Longing

by J.D. Landis

Book Overview

Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck. These brilliant and complex people enrich this sweeping story of a love that could not be denied. Set amid an enthralling rich era with creative genius, Longing... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0151004536
• ISBN13: 9780151004539
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Length: 464 Pages
• Weight: 1.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Stunning on every level

This historical novel about the composers/pianists Robert and Clara Schumann is a beautiful, well-researched and highly-entertaining portrait of the romantic period and of the amazing musical personalities that populated it. The Schuman's is one of the world's great love stories, which J.D. Landis' gorgeous prose lifts to the level of poetry. Required reading for every classical musician, and yet accessible and moving for all readers. I was simply captivated by this novel, which was recommended to me by a friend.

Enchants Pianists Everywhere

Not only does Longing convey the utmost and personal experiences of Robert and Clara Weick Schumann, but it goes into incredible detail of other composers such as Mendelssohn, Chopin, and countless others. This book is a true classic and J.D. Landis should be thanked for bringing such a wonderful book into the lives of so many pianists.

Tragedy and Joy of Art and Love

... The writing is beautiful-almost every page has a phrase or metaphor you want to memorize. The references to great thinkers, musicians and historical events are crucial to understanding the atmosphere and context in which the Schumann's lived. The footnotes are actually infrequent, but always interesting, often poignant. The sentences are not particularly long, but you do have to reread occasionally to get the meaning, especially the way Robert Schumann speaks in riddles throughout the book. This just makes the narrative richer. One of the few recent books I've read that I want to read again right away.

If you have any music in your soul, you'll love this!

This book is an act of literary magic--so astonishing in its depth and scope that you will probably never hear music the same way again! J. D. Landis recreates the extraordinary love story of composer Robert Schumann and pianist/composer Clara Wieck, complete with their letters and details of their relationship. But the author also gives poignant context to their intense and oft-thwarted love by revealing the totally encompassing musical, literary, philosophical, and political climate of the day. Anyone who has ever had any curiosity at all about the Romantic period--even negative curiosity about the sometimes sentimental and uncontrolled passion of the writing and music--will be totally won over here. The book is amazing. Robert Schumann, one of the most controversial and least understood of composers, had ruined his promising concert career as a pianist by damaging his hand through overpractice and/or the use of a stretching device, an act never forgiven by Friedrich Wieck, Robert's teacher and the father of Clara. Clara, on the other hand, eight years old when Robert sees her for the first time, is her father's triumph--becoming the most celebrated pianist/composer in Germany and the darling of audiences throughout Europe. As she approaches maturity, Friedrich will stop at almost nothing to keep Clara from Robert. Landis creates wonderful scenes, not only of Clara and Robert, but also of how the world of young Clara expands to include Paganini, Goethe, Chopin, Mendelssohn, Kierkegaard, and Hans Christian Andersen (whose cruel treatment by singer Jenny Lind will never by forgotten by the reader). Scenes showing Robert's veneration of Schubert, Heine, Liszt, von Weber, Beethoven, the young Wagner, Haydn, and Chopin, among others, are brought fully to life, and are particularly moving when his love for them must survive their often fatal illnesses and early deaths. The final scenes which reveal the depth of love which both Robert, now institutionalized by his madness, and his devoted Clara feel for Johannes Brahms are perhaps the consummate expressions of romanticism. Once Landis gets beyond the convoluted prose and long sentences of his first 25 pages, this book becomes a can't-put-it-downer. Mary Whipple

Ex Votus

"The epigraphs are archival. The characters are historical. The dates of events and correspondence are, when verifiable, authentic. The rest is fiction masquerading as fact, and the reverse." (Author's Note)Historical fiction demands of the Author both accuracy, and the ability to occupy the interstices that the historical record has left. When done well, as is the case with "Longing" by J.D. Landis, the result is excellent. His writing is credible to the level of personal dialogue and gestures. When done poorly, this genre does not even pause when sinking past Revisionist History. When this happens the work falls into a void where mediocrity reigns over writing hopefully forgotten.This work does not come easily to the reader, the book contains extensive detail on Pianos, their makers, and how they differ. The vocabulary of gifted, classically trained artists is used liberally, and context does not suffice. How is any but the rarest of readers capable of listening to List, Chopin, and Mendelssohn describe their art? Happily Mr. Landis brings some portions of his book down several technical steps. My personal favorite was his description of an impromptu duel between List and Mendelssohn. In addition he brought the same event forward in time when he compared the duel to Billie Holliday and Coleman Hawkins, when they performed in Harlem at Nightsie Johnsons a century later. The Author's description of the first intimacy shared by Clara and Robert is one of the best I have ever read. He demonstrates beautifully that carnal detail is for the voyeur, that it is not more, that it does not add, it is only the refuge of bad writing.The story is of course about Clara and Robert Schumann and their relationship, which evolves in spite of all that is done to keep them apart, and because of the love they are consumed by. Robert is a composer who cannot play what he writes, and what he does compose is largely disliked by a public who "does not understand". Robert is passionate, tortured, he is the victim of his music, the literal damage it has done to his hand, and the madness he has always known would consume him. Clara champions his music when she is kept from him, and she crosses Europe once and then dozens of times, as she is one of the finest Pianists at a time when there are numerous others who are known as well or better to the very present.The world Clara occupies, and that Robert can only just be present in, when not welcome at all, is as fantastic as the composers she is among. She writes to Robert of her conversations with Soren Kierkegaard and Hans Christian Andersen with an ease that can only come from familiarity. Her world is extraordinary. She compares his life to that of Andersen when she states, "His work is hated here! Like you he is a prophet who goes unhonored in his own Country." Robert sees himself thusly, "Everything I write, I write out of love for her."The Author also allows for moments that seem odd until placed in context. I never ha