Johannes Brahms (German Composer & Pianist) Biography

Johannes Brahms was a German Romantic pianist and composer who was born in Hamburg, Germany, on May 7, 1833, and passed away in Vienna, Austria-Hungary, now in Austria, on April 3, 1897. He composed over 200 songs in addition to music, concerti, musical ensembles, piano pieces, and choir pieces. Throughout the second part of the 1800s, Brahms was the supreme master of the symphonic and sonata forms. He can be seen as the champion of the Ludwig van Beethoven, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Haydn Classical traditions during a time when the Romantics were challenging or upending these traditions’ norms.

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Johannes Brahms Biography

Johannes Brahms	Details
Place	Hamburg, Germany
Born	7 May 1833
Died	3 April 1897
Age	63 years
Place	Vienna, Austria
Parents	Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen, Johann Jakob Brahms
Siblings	Friedrich Brahms, Elise Brahms
Influenced by	Ludwig van Beethoven, MORE

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Famous	Atheists
Johannes Brahms Age	63
Sun Sign	Taurus
Johannes Brahms Born	Hamburg
Famous As	Composer And Pianist
Johannes Brahms Father	Johann Jakob Brahms
Johannes Brahms Mother	Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen
Johannes Brahms Siblings	Elise Brahms, Friedrich Brahms
Johannes Brahms Wife	Clara Schumann
Johannes Brahms Death	April 3, 1897
Place Of Death	Vienna
City	Hamburg
Country	Germany

Johannes Brahms Childhood & Early Life

Johannes Brahms was born on 7 May 1833 in Hamburg. His father, Johann Jakob Brahms, was a musician from Heide, who came to Hamburg to pursue a music career. His mother, Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen, was a seamstress. He was born the second of their three children.

Johannes had his first musical training from his father. When he turned seven, he started taking piano lessons from Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel and later from Eduard Marxsen.

When Brahms turned thirteen, he began contributing to the family income by playing at taverns, restaurants, and local dance halls in the city’s dock area. Working for a prolonged period in smoke-laden rooms soon affected his health and he became ill.

In 1847, he was sent to Winsen an der Luhe for rest. Here he conducted a male choir and for it, he wrote his first choral composition. On returning to Hamburg, he resumed playing at taverns and to earn more money, started giving piano lessons.

Sometime now, he also started learning cello, but it came to an abrupt end when his instructor ran away with his instrument. During this period, he also performed in several concerts and began composing music for piano.

Johannes Brahms Career

In 1850, Brahms met Hungarian violinist Eduard Reményi, who introduced him to Hungarian gypsy music. For the next three years, he composed several pieces for piano, and then in April 1853, the two musicians went on a tour that launched Brahms in his career.
In May 1853, Brahms and Reményi went to Hanover and there they visited Joseph Joachim, a well-known Hungarian violinist. Earlier Brahms had heard Joachim play solo in a violin concerto and was very much impressed. He now played a few of his pieces to Joachim.
Joachim was so impressed by what he heard that he provided Brahms with a letter of recommendation to Robert Schumann, a well-known composer and influential music critic. The two also became life-long friends and close collaborators.
Sometime after that, Brahms and Reményi traveled to the Court of Weimar, where they were introduced to Franz Liszt. The elder musician was very impressed by Brahms’ work and invited him to join his group. However, Brahms failed to show proper appreciation of Liszt’s work, which offended Reményi, and the two parted ways.
On 1 October 1853, after a walking tour in the Rhineland, Brahms went to Düsseldorf to meet Schumann, armed with Joachim’s letter of recommendation. He had earlier sent the elder musician some of his work, but those were returned unopened. This time, the Schumanns welcomed him into their home.
Both Robert and his wife Clara were highly impressed by his music. Wanting to introduce the still-unknown musician to the world, Schumann wrote an article in the 28 October 1853 issue of ‘Neue Zeitschrift für Musik’. In it, he praised Brahms so much that some even became skeptical.
Overnight, Brahms became famous. However, there was a long way to go before he could establish himself; at the same time, he felt compelled to work harder to live up to the expectations created by the article.
There after, Brahms remained at Hanover, working with Joachim. In 1854, Schumann became mentally ill and had to be hospitalized. Brahms set aside his musical career and moved to Düsseldorf to help Clara in her hour of crisis.
Eventually, he took up an apartment above Clara’s and regularly visited Schumann at the sanatorium. He also looked after the children when Clara went away on her long concert tours. Gradually, as Clara’s eldest daughter began to take charge Brahms too went back to his work.
Schumann died in 1856. The following year, Brahms was appointed court music teacher and conductor at Detmold, the capital city of the Principality of Lippe. For the next couple of years, he divided his time between Detmold, Göttingen, and Hamburg, where in 1859, he formed and conducted a ladies’ choir.
Despite such a hectic schedule, the period turned out to be highly productive for him. ‘Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor’ (1854–58) and ‘String Sextet in B-flat Major’ (1858–60) are two of his most famous works of this period.
In 1862, Brahms journeyed to Vienna, staying there for the winter. On returning to Hamburg, he unsuccessfully tried to secure the position of conductor at the Hamburg Philharmonic concerts.
Therefore he went back to Vienna in 1863 and assumed the post of the director of Singakademie, a renowned choral society. Soon a conflict arose between his followers and the followers of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, who represented the new school of music.
Therefore in 1864, Brahms resigned from his post. Initially, he thought of taking up a position elsewhere but later he decided to settle permanently in Vienna and concentrate fully on composing.
1865, he began to compose ‘Eindeutsches Requiem, nach Worten der Heiligen Schrift’ (A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures), his largest choral work. Premiered in 1868, the work established him as one of the greatest European composers.
As his fame grew, he not only began to compose more and more pieces but also went on musical tours across Europe. Then in 1872, he succeeded Anton Rubinstein as the Director of Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (Society of Friends of the Music in Vienna) and served in this capacity till 1875.
Thereafter, he did not accept any other formal position. In his later years, he helped to promote unknown talents; Antonín Dvořák being one of them.
In 1876, Brahms completed his first symphony. Its English premiere was held in Cambridge on 8 March 1877 and was conducted by Joachim. Later in 1877, 1883, and 1885, he published three other symphonies.
Meanwhile, in 1881, he completed his second piano concerto titled, ‘Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major’, a work he started in 1878. In the premiere held in Budapest on November 9, 1881, Brahms was the soloist. In the same year, he also tried out his new orchestral works with the Meiningen Court Orchestra.
In 1890, he published ‘String Quintet in G Major’ and declared it to be his last work. However, the very next year, he composed ‘Clarinet Trio in A minor, Op. 114’ for the clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld. Later in 1894, he also composed two Clarinet Sonatas.

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Johannes Brahms Major Works

*‘Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15’, completed in 1858, was Brahms’ first major work. It is written in three movements and is around 40 to 50 minutes long. It was also his first orchestral composition to be performed in public.
However, it was ‘Eindeutsches Requiem, nach Worten der Heiligen Schrift’ (A German Requiem), composed between 1865 and 1868, which confirmed his position as one of the best composers in Europe. The work comprises seven movements and lasts for around 65 to 80 minutes. It is sacred but non-liturgical and as the name suggests, is in German language.

Johannes Brahms Music

Johannes Brahms had his early musical training from his father, although nothing had been noted about his formal schooling. Johann taught his son the basics of violin and cello. At the age of seven, he took piano lessons from Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel.

There he made his debut as a performer in a private concert including Beethoven’s quintet for piano and winds Op. 16 and a piano quartet by Mozart. In 1845, he composed a piano sonata in G minor, but his parents felt that he would be better off being a performer than a composer. In the same year, he learned piano from Otto’s teacher Eduard Marxsen.

Marxsen taught Johannes about the tradition of composers such as Beethoven, Mozart, and many more, and ensured that Brahms’s compositions were grounded in that tradition. In 1847, Johannes Brahms made his first public appearance as a solo pianist in Hamburg. He played his full piano recital in 1848, including a fugue by Bach, works by Marxsen, and contemporary virtuosi such as Jacob Rosenhain.

In 1850, Johannes Brahms met with the Hungarian violinist Ede Reményi, and there Johannes learned “gypsy-style” music such as the czardas. The two went on a concert tour until 1853 when they parted ways after Johannes slept during Liszt’s performance.

Johannes Brahms Awards

The University of Breslau (now the University of Wroc? aw, Poland) conferred an honorary degree to Johannes Brahms on his composing works in 1879. He wrote the Academic Festival Overture, which was published in 1881, based on various German student songs.

Johannes Brahms Religion

Johannes Brahms was a humanist/ atheist. Vierernste Gesänge (Four Serious Songs), was inspired by both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament.

Johannes Brahms Famous Works

Compositions

Wiegenlied
Danzas húngaras
A German Requiem
Symphony No. 1
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 4
Symphony No. 3
Symphony No. 2
Piano Concerto No. 1
Piano Concerto No. 2
Six Pieces for Piano, Op. 118
Double Concerto
Clarinet Quintet
Sixteen Waltzes, Op. 39
Clarinet Sonatas
Cello Sonata No. 1
Piano Quintet
Violin Sonata No. 1
Liebslieder Waltzes
Variations on a Theme by Haydn
Schicksalslied
String Sextet No. 1
Clarinet Trio
Academic Festival Overture
Three Intermezzi for piano, Op. 117
Fantasies, Op. 116
Piano Trio No. 1
Violin Sonata No. 3
Piano Sonata No. 3
Ballades, Op. 10
Piano Quartet No. 1
Hungarian Dance for Orchestra no. 5 in G minor: Allegro – Vivace
Horn Trio
Tragic Overture
Piano Sonata No. 1
Dança húngara
Nänie
Vier ernste Gesänge
Violin Sonata No. 2
Waltz for Piano in A-flat major, op. 39 no. 15
Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119
Serenade No. 1
Variations on a Theme of Paganini
Fünf Lieder, Op. 105
Cello Sonata No. 2
Piano Quartet No. 3
Piano Sonata No. 2
Alto Rhapsody
Geistliches Lied
F-A-E Sonata
Schaffe in mir, Gott

Johannes Brahms Fun Facts

By the time he was six, he’d invented his system for writing notes down on a page.
When his mother died in 1865, Brahms was overcome with grief. It is speculated that this led him to compose his German Requiem, one of the most celebrated works from his career.

Johannes Brahms Death

He died of cancer on April 3, 1897. The funeral procession was organized by the Friends of Music Society. Brahms had no special wishes regarding the music to be played at his funeral, but he seems to have mentioned to a friend that he wanted to be buried near Beethoven.