RomanticJohannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, a big port in Germany.
Johannes Brahms’s life
The big moments of this life, and what was happening in the world at the same time.
A life at a glance
- 1833👶 Birth
Born in Hamburg on 7 May, son of a double-bass player
- 1840🌍 Meanwhile
Adolphe Sax invents the saxophone (c. 1840)
- 1846🎩 Careerage 13
As a teenager, plays piano in harbour taverns to help his family
- 1853❤️ Private lifeage 20
Meets Robert and Clara Schumann; Robert hails him as the awaited genius
- 1853🧳 Journeyage 20
Tour with the violinist Reményi; meets Joachim and Liszt
- 1859🎼 Workage 26
Piano Concerto No. 1 (a difficult reception)
- 1868🎼 Workage 35
A German Requiem; the Lullaby Op. 49 No. 4
- 1869🎼 Workage 36
Hungarian Dances
- 1869🌍 Meanwhile
The Suez Canal opens
- 1875🌍 Meanwhile
The Palais Garnier opera house opens in Paris
- 1889🏛️ Landmarkage 56
Records part of a Hungarian Dance on an Edison cylinder
- 1889🌍 Meanwhile
The Eiffel Tower opens for the World’s Fair
- 1897🕯️ Deathage 64
Dies in Vienna on 3 April
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Excerpts of up to 90 seconds, freely licensed recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
Once upon a time…
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, a big port in Germany. His dad played the double bass. As a teenager Johannes played the piano to earn a little money and help his family.
At twenty he met Robert and Clara Schumann. Robert was amazed and wrote everywhere that Brahms was a genius! Brahms became Clara’s great friend for the rest of his life.
He was very demanding of himself: he took more than twenty years to write his first symphony and burned scores he didn’t like. He also composed energetic Hungarian Dances and a Lullaby that parents still sing to babies all over the world.
He was one of the first great composers to be recorded: you can still hear him play!
Johannes Brahms’s instruments
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