Various books and films have been devoted to the friendship between Johannes Brahms and Clara Schumann, often overlooking the manifold connections Brahms also had with other members of the Schumann family. Listeners and performers have been intrigued by stories of love and romantically inspired works with secret encoded musical messages. Indeed, triangular artistic relationships like that of Robert and Clara Schumann and Brahms are fascinating for many reasons, rarely to do with music – but can Clara Schumann be compared to Alma Mahler-Werfel or Cosima Bülow-Wagner? In reviewing the relationship, with recourse to unpublished letters from Clara Schumann’s correspondence with her family, the following focusses on the mutual artistic influences, dedications, Clara Schumann’s performances and Brahms’s editorial contributions to her complete edition of Robert Schumann’s works.