contradictory (research on Brahms Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Handel)

“An entry in Clara Schumann’s diary about the Handel Variations (written in 1861) :

“"On Dec 7th I gave another soirée, at which I played Johannes' Handel Variations. I was in agonies of nervousness, but I played them well all the same, and they were much applauded. Johannes, however, hurt me very much by his indifference. He declared that he could no longer bear to hear the variations, it was altogether too dreadful for him to listen to anything of his own and to have to sit by and do nothing. Although I can well understand this feeling, I cannot help finding it hard when one has devoted all one's powers to a work, and the composer himself has not a kind word for it.”

Yet, in the following spring (April 1862) Brahms wrote, in a note to a critic to whom he was sending a copy of the work,

"I am fond of it and value it particularly in relation to my other works".”


Aren’t we all the same.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variations_and_Fugue_on_a_Theme_by_Handel