Near the end of their lives and their decades-long friendship, Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann fall back into the past to revisit their almost-love affair in the shadow of her husband Robert’s madness-- and realize that, like music, memories can be rewritten and the past can be refined.
BACKGROUND
When forced to call them out, my qualifications for writing this story are pretty pitiful. Technically, I’m a classically trained pianist, having taken lessons for twelve years. But you wouldn’t possibly guess that if I tried to play something for you now. I’m no great musical talent.
SOUNDBOOK
You might want to read above before you listen below. Because yeah, I have no business "composing" anything for a hypothetical movie about Johannes Brahms. Luckily, that's not really what these two songs are. They're blueprints I created in order to help flesh out the rhythm of two pivotal scenes in the script. And I think there's a chance they might be useful references for readers, too. They certainly aren't meant to be included in whatever film may result. They're outlines of ideas to help give color to the two points in the script that depart from the formal (musical and otherwise) restraint in the rest of the story.
Final Scene: At certain emotional points throughout the script, I mention a recurring chord progression. Here it is. And here's why it is. In the last scene, when the real truth is finally revealed in an exhilarating burst of emotion the chords explode into what they've only been hinting at until now. I took liberties by remixing the certain pop song that follows the spare chords in order to fit in with the rhythm of the rest of the scene.
Attempts in C Major: This is a tiny attempt at doing what I describe in the closest scene the script has to a set piece. It's when Johnny is in the depths of his despair and confusion about the nature of his and Clara's relationship, in the wake of Robert's death. He's attempting to write his way out of uncertainty. If executed properly, it could serve as a sort of Rosetta's Stone to translate the inner feelings and musical expressions of a buttoned-up 19th century musician to a modern audience.
It starts off with "Johnny" fiddling around with some passages that will later into some of his greatest works. But then he seems to get distracted by a simple chord progression and a rhythm that begins to feel distinctly modern. Brahms was known to write soulful, romantic lyrics in his lieders. But that won't really translate.
What I ended up doing, unfortunately, was evolving it into a version of a song by my old band whose lyrics happened to be thematically appropriate. Hey, I had to work with what I have.
There are many ways this scene could be directed (and choreographed). In this particular surreal/fantastical version, I imagined the important people from his life joining him one by one, singing and playing at key moments as the song builds. Until finally Clara sits down at the piano near the end. Of course there are many far better ideas than this.