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Johannes Brahms (1833—1897)

1. Johannes Brahms was born on May 7, 1833 in Hamburg, Germany.

2. The young Brahms was forced to play the piano in dance halls to contribute to the family’s income as they were so poor.

3. Robert Schumann was so impressed with Brahms’ talent when they met he wrote an essay entitled “Neue Bahnen” (New Paths) which gave Brahms a lot of publicity.

4. Brahms met a Hungarian refugee and violinist by the name of Eduard Remenyi in 1850, and was introduced to a whole range of folk and gypsy music which massively influenced his composing style.

5. Although Brahms began composing his First symphony in 1854, it was not premiered until November 1876, 22 years later. The whole piece underwent severe edits until he was completely happy with it.

6. When Schumann died in 1856, Brahms immediately went to Düsseldorf to be with Schumann’s wife, Clara. It is unclear exactly what kind of relationship the two had, but they later destroyed a large amount of their letters they had written to each other, possibly suggesting they had something to hide.

7. When his mother died in 1865, Brahms was overcome with grief. It is speculated this led him to compose his German Requiem, one of the most celebrated works from his career.

8. Perhaps due to their musical opposition towards one another, Wagner and Brahms were not exactly best friends when they met in Vienna in 1864, after Brahms moved there to direct the Vienna Singakademie. Wagner later attacked Brahms in the press.

9. When he was 57, Brahms announced he was finished with composing. However, he was clearly unable to stop his creativity, as he produced some incredible late-period works, especially for the clarinet, like his Clarinet Sonatas, Trio and Quintet.

10. Brahms died of either pancreatic or liver cancer (the evidence is unclear) on April 3, 1897.