Johannes Brahms’ (1833-1897) work belongs right at the heart of music from the The Romantic Period. Brahms grew up in Hamburg, where he was mentored by Robert Schumann, and he finally settled in the musical city of Vienna in 1872. Browse our sheet music and scores, and explore all of Brahms’ wonderful works today!
The classical composers of the 19th century had one big problem: after such a formative, revolutionary musical figure as Ludwig van Beethoven, how could one continue to compose, and how could one find their own individual, unique musical style?
“You have no idea how it feels to always have the sound of such a giant marching behind you. ’
Brahms’ own words haunted him as his tried to finish the Franz Liszt, with his programmatic tone poems, and Richard Wagner with his musical dramas. Brahms, who never composed an opera, remained true to what he called ’absolute music’, and his works remain within the “classical framework” in terms of length and instrumental forces, and do not take on the dimensions of his Viennese counterpart Anton Bruckner.