Of the F sharp minor Sonata, Op. 2, Schumann answers:
'Your second sonata, my dear, has brought me much nearer to you. It was quite new to me; I live in your music, so that I can half play it at sight, one movement after the other. I am thankful for this. The beginning, the pp, the whole movement—there has never been one like it. Andante and the variations and the scherzo following them, quite different from those in the others; and the finale, the sostenuto, the music at the beginning of the second part, the animato and the close—in short, a laurel wreath for the from-elsewhere-coming Johannes. And the songs, the first one; I seemed to know the second; but the third—it has (at the beginning) a melody in which there are many good girls, and the splendid close. The fourth quite original. In the fifth such beautiful music—like the poem. The sixth quite different from the others. The rushing, rustling melody-harmony pleases me.'
To Joachim, Schumann writes on March 10:
'Your letter has put me into quite a happy mood. The great gaps in your artistic cultivation, and the so-called violinist's eye and the address; nothing could have amused me more. Then I recalled the Hamlet overture, Henry overture, Lindenrauschen, Abendglocken, Ballade—books for viola and pianoforte—the remarkable pieces which you played with Clara one evening at the hotel in Hanover;[60] and as I went on thinking I began this letter.... Johannes has sent me last year's Signale, to my great pleasure, for everything that has happened since February 20 was new to me. There has never been such a musical winter [1853-54] as that and the following; such travelling and flying from town to town, Frau Schroeder-Devrient, Jenny Lind, Clara, Wilhelmine Claus....'
Thus the months passed on. At the close of Frau Schumann's concert-season Johannes travelled with her to Hamburg, in response to an invitation from Capellmeister Otten, a well-known musician of the city, to be present at a performance of Schumann's 'Manfred' at his subscription concert of April 21. They passed a day at Hanover on their return journey, and on May 7, Brahms' twenty-second birthday anniversary, were joined at Düsseldorf by Joachim, who had promised to make his headquarters near them this season during the period of his 'free time'—free from the fixed duties of his post in Hanover—which, according to his contract, extended till the month of October.
Brahms' birthday-presents included the manuscript of a romance for the pianoforte composed for him by Frau Schumann, and from the master the score of his overture to 'The Bride of Messina,' both with affectionate inscriptions. The following letter of thanks was the last written by him to Endenich:
'Beloved, Honoured Friend,
'I must send you most heartfelt thanks for having remembered me so affectionately on May 7. How surprised and delighted I was by the beautiful present and the loving words in the book!
'The day was altogether such a delightful one as one does not often experience. Your dear wife understands how to give happiness. You, however, know this better than anyone.
'A portrait of my mother and sister surprised me. In the afternoon Joachim came, we hope for a very long time.