Johannes Brahms was the second child and eldest son of Johann Jakob and Johanna Henrika Christianne (Nissen). His mother was a seamstress, and his father was a resourceful and moderately talented musician, playing flute, horn, violin, and double bass. Although the family was not poor, the financial circumstances were insecure due to Johann Jakob's lack of financial management skills.

Johannes was given lessons on piano, cello, and horn. He also loved to read, and he loved folklore. He began a recital and concert tour on in 1853; he met Joachim in Gottingen, and he met Liszt in Weimar, who skillfully sight-read the Op. 4 Scherzo. However, Brahms' time there was brief; he felt that it would be useless to stay. Liszt was at the height of his symphonic compositional period, and Brahms comment that "it all came to horrify me." He considered himself a musician of the future, but he viewed the future of composition differently.

During the 1850s Brahms became more vocal in his opposition to the literary-oriented music of Liszt and the New German School. He and Joachim collaborated on a manifesto deploring the "Music of the Future;" its contents were leaked to the press prematurely and the piece was soundly ridiculed.

1. In the 1860s and after, Wagner was highly critical of Brahms' music.

   1. Hanslick, on the other hand, sided with Brahms, as evidenced in "On the True and Beautiful in Music."

      Brahms himself, however, was a supporter of Wagner's music, and considered the writing a cantata, he never found a suitable libretto.

   It was only after 1870 that Brahms felt ready to put forth String Quartets or Symphonies (the two genres dominated by Beethoven). His first orchestral piece (as opposed to concertos) was the Variations on a Theme by Haydn (1873), and he completed his Symphony #1 in C minor in the summer of 1873.

   Brahms influence on contemporary and later composers

   1. Walter Niemann commented in 1912 that "brahms is everywhere;" the "Brahms fog" (as it was disparagingly called) was prominent in the major Austrian and German conservatories.

      While his technical ability was never in question, some critics felt that Brahms' music lacked true originality and expressiveness. Later writers, on the other hand, have claimed that his "chamber music qualities" - the intricate textures and continuous motivic development - were the most forward-looking aspects of his work. Schoenberg prepared a raqdio talk on Brahms and later revised it for publication; in "Brahms the Progressive" Schoenberg claims that his ability to create themes, sections, and even entire compositions from a few small motives and his "developing variation" paved the way toward an "unrestricted musical language" of the 20th century