Brahms Biographical Information

Brief Biography
(The best online version available; extracted with permission from "The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music" by the Classical Music Pages Team)

Biogaphie auf Deutsch
(from the Onlinekunst Team)

Biogaphie en francais

Classical Archives Timeline
(Brahms in Historical Context)

 

Brahms WebSource Timeline

1833         Born 7 May in Hamburg, Germany

1840         Begins studies with Otto Cossel

1845          Begins studies with Edward Marxsen

1848          First public performance as a solo pianist

1853          Meets Hungarian violinist Remenyi (Eduard Hoffmann) and they tour through North Germany: to Hanover and Göttingen where Brahms meets German violin virtuoso Joseph Joachim. They then travel on to Weimar, where Brahms meets Franz Liszt. Brahms then leaves Remenyi for Düsseldorf and on 31 October he meets Robert and Clara Schumann. Schumann's article Neue Bahnen appears in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik. Brahms then moves on to Leipzig for performances of his compositions and later returns to Hamburg

1854          Accepts position as Director of Court Concerts and Choral Society for the Prince of Lippe-Detmold. In February, Robert Schumann has a breakdown, and Brahms returns to Düsseldorf

1856          29 July: Robert Schumann dies

1857          Brahms returns to Hamburg. On the way, he spends four months in Detmold (a visit repeated in the autumn of the next two years), where he worked as court pianist, chamber musician, and Conductor of the Court Choir

1858          Gives up the Lippe-Detmold appointment. Spends March and April in Berlin with Clara Schumann, and the summer in Göttingen where he meets Agathe von Siebold

1859          Mostly in Hamburg

1860          Moves to Winterthür, to be near Theodor Kirchner

1861          Visits Vienna, then travels to Hamm (near Hamburg)

1862          June: Attends the Rhein Music Festival in Köln, combined with a visit to Clara Schumann in Münster am Stein. In July, goes back to Hamburg, and in September, takes up permanent residence in Vienna and becomes the Conductor of the Weiner Singakademie. Meets Richard Wagner and Elisabeth von Stockhausen

1863          1 May: Left Vienna for Hamburg for his 30th birthday, but on the way returned to Blankensee, as Stockhausen was offered the job in Hamburg Brahms had wanted. By the end of May he was back in Vienna for the Singakademie

1864          Resigns his post as Director of the Singakademie and in mid-June returns to Hamburg for a visit

1865          31 January: Brahms's mother dies
In February he travels to Karlsruhe, Winterthür and Zürich

1866          August: to Zürich and Baden-Baden

1868          Settles permanently in Vienna, after having toured with Joachim and Stockhausen throughout Germany, Austria, Hungary, Switzerland, Denmark and the Netherlands. In May he travels again to Hamburg

1872          11 February: Brahms's father dies
In September Brahms accepts a position as Conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde

1873          In the summer, visits Starnberger See

1874          Summer: In Rüschlikon, Ziegelhausen, Sassnitz, Hamburg, and Lichtenthal. Meets Max Kalbeck

1875          18 April: Resigns as conductor of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. In the summer travels as previous summer, and develops his friendship with poet Gottfried Keller

1876          Summer: as in 1874 and 1875. Also travels to Mannheim. At Rügen meets Henschel. In December travels back to Vienna

1877          Concerts in Leipzig, and reunion with Elisabeth von Herzogenberg. Summer in Portschach am Wörthersee with Elisabeth von Herzogenberg

1878          Visit to Leipzig; summer as in 1877. In the late summer, travels to Hamburg for concert of his works

1880          May in Bonn for the unveiling of Schumann's memorial, and visit with Clara Schumann. Spends the summer in Bad Ischl

1881          February: Offered Meinigen court orchestra as a 'rehearsal orchestra', and at the end of the year travels to Meinigen

1882          January in Berlin; spring in Vienna: and summer in Bad Ischl

1883          Summer in Wiesbaden where he meets Hermine Spies

1884          Summer in Meinigen, then to Mürzzuschlag

1885          October in Meinigen for the rehearsal of his Fourth Symphony. Immediately after takes a tour through Germany and the Netherlands

1886          This summer is the first of three summers in Hofstetten on Lake Thun

1887         Death of Edward Marxsen. Brahms interupts his summer visit in Hofstetten to visit Clara Schumann in Frankfurt

1889          Brahms appointed a "Freeman of Hamburg". From this year onward, spends his summers in
              Bad Ischl

1890          October: Began 'cleaning house', and destroying incomplete works or abandoned compositions

1892          Death of Brahms's sister Elise; death of Elisabeth von Herzogenberg

1893          Death of Hermine Spies

1895          Death of Brahms's brother Fritz; death of Billroth. Brahms's last visit to Switzerland

1896          21 May: Clara Schumann dies in Bonn. In September Brahms goes to Karlsbad for treatment

1897          26 March: Brahms is bedridden in Vienna, and on 3 April he dies

 

    For an interesting collection of historical and political maps of Germany and Europe, go to     Roots Web ~ Maps

Da capo

This page is prepared and maintained by Mary I. Ingraham.
(c) 2002, INGRAHAM CULTURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT CORP.
Last updated September 2002