johannes brahms

Johannes Brahms

(7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897)

This German Romantic composer was such a perfectionist, he destroyed many of his works. Johannes Brahms began his musical education at the age of seven, under the tutelage of Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel and, later, Eduard Marxen. He developed a love of folklore, poems, stories, and songs that informed his own work. Meeting such luminaries as Franz Liszt and Robert Schumann contributed to his growing reputation. He toured extensively throughout Europe and became one of the most celebrated composers of his time. At the age of fifty-seven, he decided to retire from music; but could not keep himself from continuing to compose. He died from cancer six years later. He is considered the last of the great classical composers.

'Hungarian Dance No.1' was the first recording of a major composer. Theo Wangemann, a representative of American inventor Thomas Edison, met Brahms in Vienna and made this recording.

The Double Concerto was Brahms' final work for orchestra.

The Liebeslieder waltzes, a collection of eighteen songs for four singers, were composed for Clara Schumann and her daughter, Julie.

A German Requiem, To Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 is Brahms's longest composition.

Academic Festival Overture was composed to thank the University of Breslau for awarding him an honorary doctorate.

Brahms's Wiegenlied: Guten Abend, gute Nacht ("Good evening, good night"), Op. 49, No. 4, is his most famous musical piece. It is widely known as Brahms's Lullaby. He wrote it for his friend, Bertha Faber for the birth of her son.