Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Hamburg, Germany

Johannes Brahms was born into a musical family. His father was a double bass player and by the age of seven, Brahms started taking piano lessons. By thirteen, he started theory and composition. In 1853, on a tour with the Hungarian violinist Reményi, he met Joseph Joachim and Liszt; Joachim, who became a lifelong friend, encouraged him to meet Robert Schumann. Brahms's artistic kinship with Robert Schumann and his profound romantic passion (later mellowing to veneration) for Clara Schumann, 14 years his elder, never left him. In 1869, he composed one of his most known works, German Requiem and Variations on a Theme in 1873. With these successes, Brahms started to explore other opportunities such as a symphony. Soon, he was termed the next Beethoven. He was able to create compositions for every genre but opera. Fundamentally reserved, logical and studious, Brahms was fond of taut forms in his music, though he used genre distinctions loosely. In the piano music, for example, which chronologically encircles his vocal output, the dividing lines beteen ballade and rhapsody, and capriccio and intermezzo, are vague, such terms refer more to expressive character than to musical form. As in other media, his most important development technique in the piano music is variation, whether used independently (simple melodic alteration and thematic cross-reference) or to create a large integrated cycle in which successive variations contain their own thematic transformation (as in the Handel Variations). Brahms's greatest vocal work, and a work central to his career, is the German Requiem (1868) combining mixed chorus, solo voices and full orchestra in a deeply felt, non-denominational statement of faith. More Romantic are the Schicksalslied and the Alto Rhapsody. Between these large choral works and the many a cappella ones showing his informed appreciation of Renaissance and Baroque polyphony (he was a diligent collector, scholar and editor of old music) stand the justly popular Zigeunerlieder (in modified gypsy style) and the landler-like Liebeslieder waltzes with piano accompaniment. His best-loved songs include, besides the narrative Magelone cycle and the sublime Vier ernste Gesänge, Mainacht, Feldeinsamkeit and Immer leiser wird mein Schlummer.

Works
Orchestral music
- Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1873)
- Academic Festival overture (1880)
- Tragic overture (1886)
- Serenade No. 1 (1858)
- Serenade No. 2 (1860)
- Symphony No. 1 (1876)
- Symphony No. 2 (1877)
- Violin Concerto in D (1878)
- Symphony No. 3 (1883)
- Symphony No. 4 (1885)
Chamber music
- String Quartet No. 2 (1863)
- Clarinet Quintet 1891)
Piano music
- Piano Sonata No.1 (1852)
- Piano Sonata No. 2 (1852)
- Piano Concerto No. 1 (1859)
- Piano Quintet (1862)
- Piano Concerto No. 2 (1881)
Choral music
- A German Requiem (1868)
- Alto Rhapsody (1869)
Lieder
- Vergebliches Ständchen (Futile Serenade, 1881)
- Four Serious Songs (1896)

Additional Information
A site that leads to other great sites about Brahms: http://www.uky.edu/FineArts/Music/Projects/Brahms/Brahms.html

Sources:

"Johannes Brahms" Internet Public Library. January 1, 1998. http://www.ipl.org/exhibit/mushist/rom/brahms.htm

Sony Classical. Sony Music Entertainment. 2001. <http://www.essentialsofmusic.com/eras/romhist.html>