The greater part of June was spent by Frau Schumann at Detmold, capital of the small principality of Lippe-Detmold, which, during the fifties and sixties, possessed a very flourishing and enterprising musical life. The reigning Prince, Leopold III., had inherited from his mother, a Princess of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, a fine taste for music that was shared by his brothers and sisters, and soon after his accession he established a private orchestra, consisting of thirty-three, soon augmented to forty-five members, under the conductorship of the violinist Kiel, a pupil of Spohr. A certain number of court concerts were given every year, the programmes consisting of a symphony, two overtures, and several solos, selected from the works of the best classical and modern composers. The Prince was not without interest in the New-German school, and compositions by Wagner and Berlioz were given from time to time. Now and then there was a performance of the whole or part of some large choral work.
Prince Leopold's mother, the Dowager Princess, resided with her daughters, the Princesses Luise, Friederike, and Pauline, in the old castle not far from the palace, and it had been settled that the talented Princess Friederike should enjoy the advantage of lessons from Frau Schumann during the short interval at the disposal of the artist. The arrangement proved a great success, and not only with regard to the lessons. Frau Schumann delighted a circle of sympathetic listeners by playing at several court soirées, was enthusiastically received at a public concert, and, on the eve of her departure, played one of Beethoven's pianoforte concertos at an orchestral court concert, which was made further memorable by the presence of Joachim and his performance of the same master's concerto for violin.
Soon after the return of the two artists, the little party at Düsseldorf dispersed for a time. Joachim started for a tour in the Tyrol, and Frau Schumann, accompanied by Fräulein Bertha and Johannes, went to Ems, where she had announced a concert for July 15, for which Madame Lind-Goldschmidt had, during the week of the Düsseldorf festival, proferred her services. The date decided upon was somewhat in advance of the one originally selected, and Goldschmidt had been called to Sweden meanwhile on affairs of importance. He interrupted his engagements, however, and travelled to Ems, in order to put his services at Frau Schumann's disposal by superintending the general business of the concert and acting as his wife's accompanist; and it was in this connection that a certain appearance of nonchalance in Brahms' proceedings caused a feeling of irritation in Madame Goldschmidt and himself.
The concert was to take place in a room of the Kurhaus, and, owing to the procrastination of some of the authorities, the arrangements to be made on the spot, including those for receiving and seating the large number of ticket-holders, could not be begun until within an hour or two of the time appointed for the commencement of the music. The result was hurry and confusion indescribable, and many last things had to be done even during the assembling of the audience. The brunt of the difficulties was borne by Goldschmidt, who successfully overcame them, but who was annoyed that Brahms, on his arrival with Frau Schumann and Fräulein Bertha, passed quietly to his seat amongst the audience without offering to make himself useful. Perhaps he may have thought he could help matters best by keeping out of the way. He added to his delinquency, however, by disappearing after the concert, which was, of course, a huge artistic and financial success, without even showing himself in the artists' room, and was seen no more in Ems. Starting for Braubach, he wandered about alone for a couple of days, until the winding up of the concert business left Frau Schumann at leisure, when he rejoined her at Coblenz. There is no question that on this occasion it was his invincible dislike to a fashionable crowd which overcame his judgment, but it is not to be wondered at that his real or apparent indifference was commented on by those to whom it seemed inexplicable.
Johannes passed ten happy days walking along the Rhine from Coblenz to Mainz and visiting Frankfurt and Heidelberg in the society of Frau Schumann and her companion, and, on their departure for a short stay at Baden-Baden, to be followed by a month's rest at the seaside, he returned to Düsseldorf to work hard at his pianoforte-playing. He had not been unsuccessful in obtaining pupils there, but the means he derived from his teaching were unreliable, and he had resolved to take the advice of his two best friends to try his luck again as a concert-player. He looked forward with dread to the ordeal, and shrank from the partings it would involve, but kept to his plan; and in the course of September a paragraph appeared in the Signale announcing his intention of making a concert-journey. He began, not at Leipzig, as he had intended, but by joining Frau Clara and Joachim in giving two concerts at Danzig on November 14 and 16, a change of plan which was of benefit both to his spirits and his pocket. A picture of him on his arrival in the town, given by Anton Door,[63] forms an amusing and perhaps instructive sequel to the foregoing account of the occurrences at Ems:
'I had hardly been a week in Danzig, when I saw great bills in the streets announcing the coming concert of Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, and Johannes Brahms. I at once called on Joachim, who received me with cordiality, and we chatted, as old acquaintances, of home and our experiences.
'During the whole time we were together, a slender young man with long, fair hair paced continually to and fro in the background smoking cigarettes, without troubling himself in the least about my presence, or even showing by an inclination of the head that he observed me; in a word, I was as empty air for him. This was my first meeting with Johannes Brahms.'
Door became, nevertheless, in later years, a cordial friend and admirer of the composer.
Complete equality amongst the three performers was observed in the arrangement of the programmes. Each played solos, and both pianists performed with the violinist at either concert. Brahms' contributions included Bach's Chromatic Fantasia, which remained one of the pièces de résistance of his répertoire throughout his pianistic career, and two manuscript pieces, Saraband and Gavotte, from amongst the 'Album-Leaves' which he had contemplated publishing in 1854.
The critical moment had now arrived when Johannes was obliged to bid farewell to his friends and go his own way. He played with success at one of the Bremen subscription concerts on November 20, contributing to the programme Beethoven's G major Concerto and Schumann's great Fantasia, Op. 17; and on the 24th, the date which he had anticipated with ever-increasing anxiety as it drew nearer, made his first appearance in Hamburg since the wonderful turn that had taken place in his fortunes in 1853, at one of G. D. Otten's annual series of orchestral subscription concerts.