The chapter on the Vienna that Brahms reached in the 1870s is a model, and the composer's hopeless love for ClaraSchumann is a strong biographical thread.
Paralyzed by this prediction, and struggling to come to terms with his unrequited love for his mentor's younger wife, ClaraSchumann (a formidable musician in her own right), Brahms embarks on a decades-long struggle to compose his first symphony.