Meet Brahms | Composer Biography for Kids FREE Worksheets

meet johannes brahms johannes was born in 1833 in hamburg germany germany is the home of pretzels castles and super snazzy cars made by bmw porsche and mercedes-benz johannes's father a town musician gave him his first music lessons by the age of seven johannes was studying with a local piano teacher and had created his own music notation system [Music] johannes practiced hard and was soon giving concerts in hamburg and playing the piano in restaurants and theaters to help support his family at the age of 20 brahms met two famous composers franz liszt and robert schumann schumann

was so impressed with braum's music that he wrote an article for a music journal that made brahms famous in spite of the acclaim brahms never believed he could live up to the standards set by ludwig von beethoven he kept trying though and in 1868 brahms wrote one of his greatest masterpieces opus 49 number four which is also known as brahms lullaby [Music] in the late 1850s brahms established a women's choir in hamburg for which he wrote music and conducted because brahms was always composing he neglected his appearance and arrived at rehearsals and concerts less than

prepared sometimes he would forget to attach his suspenders and have to hold his pants up while conducting to keep them from falling down [Music] in 1878 still full of surprises a typically clean-shaven brahms grew a beard in a letter to one of his conductor friends he said i am coming with a large beard prepare your wife for a most awful sight in 1879 a violinist friend suggested that they tour hungary to play music at first brahms didn't want to go because other musician friends only wanted to play music and make money but brahms wanted to

admire the scenery too his friend told him they could make the tour a vacation eventually brahms agreed when brahms returned home from the tour he was thrilled to be recognized for his piano performances he was also happy he discovered the folk songs of hungary these songs would soon inspire some of his greatest works the most famous of which is his hungarian dance number five [Music] in 1889 a representative of american inventor thomas edison visited brahms in vienna and asked him to play the piano for edison's newest invention a recording machine this historic performance is one

of the earliest recordings ever made by a major composer the opportunities brahms had to perform write and record music made him one of the greatest composers of all time he became so popular in fact that he is now known as a member of the composers called the three bees which stands for bach beethoven and brahms [Music]