Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, Germany on May 7, 1833.1)
Jokob Brahms, Brahms' father, worked as a jobbing musician, usually playing the double bass and French horn.2)
Because his family was impoverished, the young Brahms was compelled to play the piano in dance halls to supplement their money.3)
Brahms was an early starter, beginning to compose when he was only 11 years old. However, when he grew older, he found them to be somewhat humiliating and destroyed the most of them.4)
When he witnessed Liszt perform his own Sonata in B Minor at the Court of Weimar, Brahms supposedly became irritated with his host. Brahms fell asleep during the performance, claiming exhaustion from his travels.5)
When they met, Robert Schumann was so pleased with Brahms' abilities that he was prompted to write an article titled 'Neue Bahnen' ('New Paths,' which garnered Brahms a lot of attention.6)
In 1850, Brahms met a Hungarian immigrant and violinist named Eduard Remenyi (left), who introduced him to a wide spectrum of folk and gypsy music that greatly affected his composition style.7)
Despite the fact that Brahms began writing his first symphony in 1854, it was not debuted until November 1876, 22 years later. The entire piece was heavily edited until he was fully satisfied.8)
When Schumann died in 1856, Brahms rushed to Düsseldorf to be with Schumann's widow, Clara. It's unknown what kind of relationship the two had, but they burned several of their letters to each other, maybe implying that they had anything to hide…9)
The so-called War of the Romantics was essentially a musical debate between composers such as Wagner and Liszt, who represented a more radical approach to music, and more conservative musicians such as Brahms and Clara Schumann. As a result, despite his continued popularity, Brahms has always been perceived as an old-fashioned composer.10)
Brahms was a natural outdoorsman. When he wasn't traveling over Europe for performance tours, he enjoyed going to the hills of Italy for walking vacations and solo composition.11)
Brahms was filled with grief after his mother died in 1865. This is thought to have inspired him to write his German Requiem, one of his most famous compositions.12)
Wagner and Brahms were not exactly great friends when they met in Vienna in 1864, when Brahms relocated there to manage the Vienna Singakademie. Wagner later went on the offensive against Brahms in the press.13)
Brahms announced his retirement from composing at the age of 57. He was evidently unable to halt his creativity, though, as he produced some amazing late-period compositions, particularly for the clarinet, such as his Clarinet Sonatas, Trio, and Quintet.14)
On April 3rd, 1897, Brahms died of either pancreatic or liver cancer (the evidence is unclear). In the same year, Hubert Parry, a British composer, wrote a musical tribute to him, Elegy for Brahms.15)