Brahms

When?

May 7 1833

April 3 1897, age 63

Where?

Vienna, Austria

Brahms was a

Romantic

composer.

One of Brahms’s most famous pieces is a song called “Wiegenlied,” which means lullaby. You may know it—or maybe not because you fell asleep before it ended! Imagine writing a song to help a baby fall asleep. Would it be fast or slow? Loud or soft?

Brahms was good at taking a very small musical idea—maybe three or four notes—and growing it into a long piece of music that could last half an hour. This technique is called “developing variation” and it's a great way to unify the music.

Brahms wrote music during the late Romantic period. While other composers were experimenting with new musical ideas, Brahms wrote in a traditional manner. He always stayed true to himself!

While other composers were trying out more modern musical ideas, Brahms kept writing his own kind of music. He alway stayed true to himself!

Brahms wrote many different pieces: symphonies, overtures, piano pieces and chamber works. (Those are pieces written for small groups of instruments, like a string quartet. How many players do you think make up a quartet?)

Fun Facts

Both Maestros

Nobody's Perfect

Brahms was a perfectionist! He destroyed many of his compositions that he thought weren’t good enough and he took over 20 years to finish his first symphony!

Mini Maestro

What the...?

His Violin Concerto was originally considered too difficult and strange to play. Today it’s one of the most famous concertos ever written.

Mini Maestro

A Bar of Music

As a little boy, Brahms loved music. His family didn’t have a lot of As a teenager Brahms played piano in bars and cafes to earn money. In this way, he learned a lot of music very quickly and how to play by ear.