Editing Johannes Brahms (section)

== Biography ==

===Youth (1833–1850)===

[[File:Brahms geburtshaus in Hamburg.jpg|thumb|upright|Photograph from 1891 of the building in Hamburg where Brahms was born. It was destroyed by [[Bombing of Hamburg in World War II|bombing]] in 1943.]]

====Upbringing====
Brahms's father, Johann Jakob Brahms, was from the town of [[Heide]] in Holstein.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=4}}{{efn|His family name was also sometimes spelled Brahmst or Brams, deriving from Bram, the German word for the shrub [[Genista|broom]].{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=7}}}} Against his family's will, Johann Jakob pursued a career in music, arriving in Hamburg at age 19.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=4}} He found work playing [[double bass]] for jobs; he also played in a sextet in the Alster-pavilion in Hamburg's [[Jungfernstieg]].{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=4–5}} In 1830, Johann Jakob was appointed as a [[natural horn|horn]] player in the Hamburg militia.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=3–4}} He married Johanna Henrika Christiane Nissen the same year.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=3}} A middle-class seamstress 17 years his senior, she enjoyed writing letters and reading despite an apparently limited education.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=6–9}}

Johannes Brahms was born in 1833. His sister Elisabeth (Elise) had been born in 1831 and a younger brother Fritz Friedrich was born in 1835.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=14–16}}{{efn|Fritz also became a pianist; overshadowed by his brother, he emigrated to [[Caracas]] in 1867, and later returned to Hamburg as a teacher.{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|p=13}}}} The family then lived in poor apartments in the {{ill|Gängeviertel (Hamburg)|lt=Gängeviertel|de|Gängeviertel (Hamburg)|display=1}} quarter of Hamburg and struggled economically.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=9–11, 14}} (Johann Jakob even considered emigrating to the United States when an [[impresario]], recognizing Johannes's talent, promised them fortune there.){{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=10, 17}} Eventually Johann Jakob became a musician in the [[Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg]] playing [[double bass]], horn, and [[flute]].{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=12}} For enjoyment, he played first [[violin]] in [[string quartet]]s.{{sfn|Geiringer and Geiringer|1982|loc=12}} The family moved over the years to ever better accommodation in Hamburg.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=4–8}}

====Training====
Johann Jakob gave his son his first musical training; Johannes also learnt to play the violin and the basics of playing the cello. From 1840 he studied piano with Otto Friedrich Willibald Cossel. Cossel complained in 1842 that Brahms "could be such a good player, but he will not stop his never-ending composing."

At the age of 10, Brahms made his debut as a performer in a private concert including [[Beethoven]]'s [[Quintet for Piano and Winds (Beethoven)|Quintet for Piano and Winds]] Op. 16 and a [[piano quartet]] by [[Mozart]].{{which|date=May 2025}} He also played as a solo work an [[étude]] of [[Henri Herz]]. By 1845 he had written a [[piano sonata]] in G minor.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=9–11}} His parents disapproved of his early efforts as a composer, feeling that he had better career prospects as a performer.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|p=12}}

From 1845 to 1848 Brahms studied with Cossel's teacher, the pianist and composer [[Eduard Marxsen]]. Marxsen had been a personal acquaintance of Beethoven and [[Schubert]], admired the works of Mozart and [[Haydn]], and was a devotee of the music of [[J. S. Bach]]. Marxsen conveyed to Brahms the tradition of these composers and ensured that Brahms's own compositions were grounded in that tradition.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=26}}

====Recitals====
In 1847 Brahms made his first public appearance as a solo pianist in Hamburg, playing a fantasy by [[Sigismund Thalberg]]. His first full piano recital, in 1848, included a [[fugue]] by Bach as well as works by Marxsen and contemporary virtuosi such as [[Jacob Rosenhain]]. A second recital in April 1849 included Beethoven's [[Piano Sonata No. 21 (Beethoven)|''Waldstein'' sonata]] and a waltz fantasia of his own composition and garnered favourable newspaper reviews.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=17–18}}

Persistent stories of the impoverished adolescent Brahms playing in bars and brothels have only anecdotal provenance,<ref>Including tales allegedly told by Brahms himself to Clara Schumann and others; see [[Jan Swafford]], [http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1999/03/18/aimez-vous-brahms-an-exchange/ "'Aimez-Vous Brahms': An Exchange"], ''[[The New York Review of Books]]'' 18 March 1999, accessed 1 July 2018.</ref> and many modern scholars dismiss them; the Brahms family was relatively prosperous, and Hamburg legislation very strictly forbade music in, or the admittance of minors to, brothels.{{sfn|Swafford|2001|loc=''passim''}}{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=12–14}}

====Juvenilia====
Brahms's juvenilia comprised piano music, chamber music and works for male voice choir. Under the pseudonym 'G. W. Marks', some piano arrangements and fantasies were published by the Hamburg firm of Cranz in 1849. The earliest of Brahms's works which he acknowledged (his ''Scherzo'' Op. 4 and the song ''Heimkehr'' Op. 7 no. 6) date from 1851. However, Brahms was later assiduous in eliminating all his juvenilia. Even as late as 1880, he wrote to his friend Elise Giesemann to send him his manuscripts of choral music so that they could be destroyed.{{sfn|Hofmann|1999|pp=16, 18–20}}

===Early adulthood (1850–1862)===
[[File:E Remenyi and J Brahms.jpg|thumb|upright|Ede Reményi (l.) and Brahms in 1852]]
[[File:Johannes Brahms 1853.jpg|thumb|upright|Brahms in 1853]]
[[File:Franz Hanfstaengl - Clara Schumann (1857).jpg|thumb|upright|[[Clara Schumann]] in 1857, photograph by [[Franz Hanfstaengl]]]]

====Collaboration and travel====
In 1850 Brahms met the Hungarian violinist [[Ede Reményi]] and accompanied him in a number of recitals over the next few years. This was his introduction to "gypsy-style" music such as the ''[[csardas]]'', which was later to prove the foundation of his most lucrative and popular compositions, the two sets of ''[[Hungarian Dances (Brahms)|Hungarian Dances]]'' (1869 and 1880).{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=56, 62}}{{sfn|Musgrave|1999b|loc=45}} 1850 also marked Brahms's first contact (albeit a failed one) with Robert Schumann; during Schumann's visit to Hamburg that year, friends persuaded Brahms to send the former some of his compositions, but the package was returned unopened.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=56–57}}

In 1853 Brahms went on a concert tour with Reményi, visiting the violinist and composer [[Joseph Joachim]] at [[Hanover]] in May. Brahms had earlier heard Joachim playing the solo part in [[violin Concerto (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Violin Concerto]] and been deeply impressed.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=49}} Brahms played some of his own solo piano pieces for Joachim, who remembered fifty years later: "Never in the course of my artist's life have I been more completely overwhelmed".{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=64}} This was the beginning of a friendship which was lifelong, albeit temporarily derailed when Brahms took the side of Joachim's wife in their divorce proceedings of 1883.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=494–495}}

Brahms admired Joachim as a composer, and in 1856 they were to embark on a mutual training exercise to improve their skills in (in Brahms's words) "double [[counterpoint]], [[canon (music)|canons]], [[fugue]]s, preludes or whatever".{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|p=67}} Bozarth notes that "products of Brahms's study of counterpoint and early music over the next few years included "dance pieces, preludes and fugues for organ, and neo-[[Renaissance]] and neo-[[Baroque music|Baroque]] choral works".<ref name=bozarth2 />

After meeting Joachim, Brahms and Reményi visited [[Weimar]], where Brahms met [[Franz Liszt]], [[Peter Cornelius]], and [[Joachim Raff]], and where Liszt performed Brahms's Op. 4 Scherzo [[Sight-reading|at sight]]. Reményi claimed that Brahms then slept during Liszt's performance of his own [[Sonata in B minor (Liszt)|Sonata in B minor]]; this and other disagreements led Reményi and Brahms to part company.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=67, 71}}

====The Schumanns and Leipzig====
Brahms visited [[Düsseldorf]] in October 1853, and, with a letter of introduction from Joachim,{{sfn|Gál|1963|p=7}} was welcomed by the Schumanns. Robert, greatly impressed and delighted by the 20-year-old's talent, published an article entitled "Neue Bahnen" ("New Paths") in the 28 October issue of the journal ''[[Neue Zeitschrift für Musik]]'' nominating Brahms as one who was "fated to give expression to the times in the highest and most ideal manner".<ref name="schumannideal">{{harvnb|Schumann|1988|pp=199–200}}</ref>

This praise may have aggravated Brahms's self-critical standards of perfection and dented his confidence. He wrote to Schumann in November 1853 that his praise "will arouse such extraordinary expectations by the public that I don't know how I can begin to fulfil them".{{sfn|Avins|1997|p=24}} While in Düsseldorf, Brahms participated with Schumann and Schumann's pupil [[Albert Dietrich]] in writing a movement each of a [[violin sonata]] for Joachim, the "[[F-A-E Sonata]]", the letters representing the initials of Joachim's personal motto ''Frei aber einsam'' ("Free but lonely").{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=81–82}}

Schumann's accolade led to the first publication of Brahms's works under his own name. Brahms went to [[Leipzig]] where [[Breitkopf & Härtel]] published his Opp. 1–4 (the Piano Sonatas nos. [[Piano Sonata No. 1 (Brahms)|1]] and [[Piano Sonata No. 2 (Brahms)|2]], the Six Songs Op. 3, and the Scherzo Op. 4), whilst [[Bartholf Senff]] published the [[Piano Sonata No. 3 (Brahms)|Third Piano Sonata Op. 5]] and the Six Songs Op. 6. In Leipzig, he gave recitals including his own first two piano sonatas, and met with [[Ferdinand David (musician)|Ferdinand David]], [[Ignaz Moscheles]], and [[Hector Berlioz]], among others.<ref name=bozarth2>{{harvnb|Bozarth and Frisch|2001|loc=§2: "New Paths"}}</ref>{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=89}}

After Schumann's attempted suicide and subsequent confinement in a mental sanatorium near [[Bonn]] in February 1854 (where he died of pneumonia in 1856), Brahms based himself in Düsseldorf, where he supported the household and dealt with business matters on Clara's behalf. Clara was not allowed to visit Robert until two days before his death, but Brahms was able to visit him and acted as a go-between.

Brahms began to feel deeply for Clara, who to him represented an ideal of womanhood. But he was conflicted about their romantic association and resisted it, choosing the life of a bachelor in an apparent effort to focus on his craft.{{sfn|Bozarth and Frisch|2001|loc=§2: "New Paths"}} Nonetheless, their intensely emotional relationship lasted until Clara's death. In June 1854 Brahms dedicated to Clara his Op. 9, the ''Variations on a Theme of Schumann''.<ref name=bozarth2 /> Clara continued to support Brahms's career by programming his music in her recitals.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=180, 182}}

====Early compositions, reception, and polemics====
After the publication of his Op. 10 [[Ballades, Op. 10 (Brahms)|Ballades]] for piano, Brahms published no further works until 1860. His major project of this period was the [[Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms)|Piano Concerto in D minor]], which he had begun as a work for two pianos in 1854 but soon realized needed a larger-scale format. Based in Hamburg at this time, he gained, with Clara's support, a position as musician to the tiny court of [[Detmold]], the capital of the [[Principality of Lippe]], where he spent the winters of 1857 to 1860 and for which he wrote his two [[Serenades (Brahms)|Serenades]] (1858 and 1859, Opp. 11 and 16). In Hamburg he established a women's choir for which he wrote music and conducted. To this period also belong his first two Piano Quartets ([[Piano Quartet No. 1 (Brahms)|Op. 25]] and [[Piano Quartet No. 2 (Brahms)|Op. 26]]) and the first movement of the [[Piano Quartet No. 3 (Brahms)|third Piano Quartet]], which eventually appeared in 1875.<ref name=bozarth2 />

The end of the decade brought professional setbacks for Brahms. The premiere of the First Piano Concerto in Hamburg on 22 January 1859, with the composer as soloist, was poorly received. Brahms wrote to Joachim that the performance was "a brilliant and decisive – failure&nbsp;... [I]t forces one to concentrate one's thoughts and increases one's courage&nbsp;... But the hissing was too much of a good thing&nbsp;..."{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=189–190}} At a second performance, audience reaction was so hostile that Brahms had to be restrained from leaving the stage after the first movement.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=211}} As a consequence of these reactions Breitkopf and Härtel declined to take on his new compositions. Brahms consequently established a relationship with other publishers, including [[N. Simrock|Simrock]], who eventually became his major publishing partner.<ref name=bozarth2 />

Brahms further made an intervention in 1860 in the debate on the future of German music which seriously misfired. Together with Joachim and others, he prepared an attack on Liszt's followers, the so-called "[[New German School]]" (although Brahms himself was sympathetic to the music of [[Richard Wagner]], the School's leading light). In particular they objected to the rejection of traditional musical forms and to the "rank, miserable weeds growing from Liszt-like fantasias". A draft was leaked to the press, and the ''Neue Zeitschrift für Musik'' published a parody which ridiculed Brahms and his associates as backward-looking. Brahms never again ventured into public musical polemics.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=206–211}}

====Failed aspirations====
Brahms's personal life was also troubled. In 1859 he became engaged to Agathe von Siebold. The engagement was soon broken off, but even after this Brahms wrote to her: "I love you! I must see you again, but I am incapable of bearing fetters. Please write me&nbsp;... whether&nbsp;... I may come again to clasp you in my arms, to kiss you, and tell you that I love you." They never saw one another again, and Brahms later confirmed to a friend that Agathe was his "last love".<ref name=Agathe>{{harvnb|Musgrave|2000|pp=52–53}}</ref>

Brahms had hoped to be given the conductorship of the Hamburg Philharmonic, but in 1862 this post was given to [[baritone]] [[Julius Stockhausen]]. Brahms continued to hope for the post. But he demurred when he was finally offered the directorship in 1893, as he had "got used to the idea of having to go along other paths".{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|pp=27, 31}}

===Maturity (1862–1876)===
[[File:Brahms c. 1872.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Johannes Brahms, photographed {{Circa|1872}}]]

====Move to Vienna====
In autumn 1862 Brahms made his first visit to Vienna, staying there over the winter. Although Brahms entertained the idea of taking up conducting posts elsewhere, he based himself increasingly in Vienna and soon made it his home. In 1863, he was appointed conductor of the [[Wiener Singakademie]]. He surprised his audiences by programming many works by the early German masters such as [[Heinrich Schütz]] and J. S. Bach, and other early composers such as [[Giovanni Gabrieli]]; more recent music was represented by works of Beethoven and [[Felix Mendelssohn]]. Brahms also wrote works for the choir, including his Motet, Op. 29. Finding however that the post encroached too much of the time he needed for composing, he left the choir in June 1864.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=277–279, 283}}

From 1864 to 1876 he spent many of his summers in [[Lichtental]] on the north side of Vienna, where Clara Schumann and her family also spent some time. His house in Lichtental, where he worked on many of his major compositions including ''[[A German Requiem (Brahms)|A German Requiem]]'' and his middle-period chamber works, is preserved as a museum.<ref>{{harvnb|Hofmann|Hofmann|2010|p=40}}; [http://www.schumann-portal.de/brahms-house.html "Brahms House"], on website of the ''Schumann Portal'', accessed 22 December 2016.</ref>

====Wagner and his circle====
In Vienna Brahms became an associate of two close members of Wagner's circle, his earlier friend Peter Cornelius and [[Karl Tausig]], and of [[Joseph Hellmesberger Sr.]] and [[Julius Epstein (pianist)|Julius Epstein]], respectively the Director and head of violin studies, and the head of piano studies, at the [[Vienna Conservatoire]]. Brahms's circle grew to include the notable critic (and opponent of the 'New German School') [[Eduard Hanslick]], the conductor [[Hermann Levi]] and the surgeon [[Theodor Billroth]], who were to become among his greatest advocates.{{sfn|Musgrave|1999b|loc=39–41}}<ref name=bozarth3 />

In January 1863 Brahms met Richard Wagner for the first time, for whom he played his ''[[Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel|Handel Variations]]'' Op. 24, which he had completed the previous year. The meeting was cordial, although Wagner was in later years to make critical, and even insulting, comments on Brahms's music.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=265–269}} Brahms however retained at this time and later a keen interest in Wagner's music, helping with preparations for Wagner's Vienna concerts in 1862/63,<ref name=bozarth3>{{harvnb|Bozarth and Frisch|2001|loc=§3 "First maturity"}}</ref> and being rewarded by Tausig with a manuscript of part of Wagner's ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' (which Wagner demanded back in 1875).{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=401}} The ''Handel Variations'' also featured, together with the first Piano Quartet, in his first Viennese recitals, in which his performances were better received by the public and critics than his music.{{sfn|Musgrave|1999b|loc=39}}

====Requiem and personal beliefs====
In February 1865 Brahms's mother died, and he began to compose his large choral work ''A German Requiem'', Op. 45, of which six movements were completed by 1866. Premieres of the first three movements were given in Vienna, but the complete work was first given in [[Bremen]] in 1868 to great acclaim. A seventh movement (the soprano solo "Ihr habt nun Traurigkeit") was added for the equally successful Leipzig premiere (February 1869). The work went on to receive concert and critical acclaim throughout Germany and also in England, Switzerland and Russia, marking effectively Brahms's arrival on the world stage.<ref name=bozarth3 />

Baptised into the Lutheran church as an infant and confirmed at age fifteen in [[St. Michael's Church, Hamburg|St. Michael's Church]],<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=67FA4aJAy8kC&q=johannes+brahms+confirmed+michaeliskirche&pg=PA290 |title=A Brahms Reader|last=Musgrave|first=Michael|date=September 2001|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09199-1}}</ref> Brahms has been described as an agnostic and a humanist.{{sfn|Swafford|2012|p=327}} The devout Catholic [[Antonín Dvořák]] wrote in a letter: "Such a man, such a fine soul – and he believes in nothing! He believes in nothing!"{{sfn|Swafford|1999}} When asked by conductor [[Carl Martin Reinthaler|Karl Reinthaler]] to add additional explicitly religious text to his ''[[A German Requiem (Brahms)|German Requiem]]'', Brahms is reported to have responded, "As far as the text is concerned, I confess that I would gladly omit even the word German and instead use Human; also with my best knowledge and will I would dispense with passages like [[John 3:16]]. On the other hand, I have chosen one thing or another because I am a musician, because I needed it, and because with my venerable authors I can't delete or dispute anything. But I had better stop before I say too much."{{sfn|Musgrave|1985|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780710097767/page/80 80]}}

====Mounting successes and failed romance====
Brahms also experienced at this period popular success with works such as his first set of ''Hungarian Dances'' (1869), the [[Liebeslieder Waltzes, Op. 52|''Liebeslieder Waltzes'', Op. 52]], (1868/69), and his collections of [[lied]]er (Opp. 43 and 46–49).<ref name=bozarth3 /> Following such successes he finally completed a number of works that he had wrestled with over many years such as the cantata [[Rinaldo (cantata)|''Rinaldo'']] (1863–1868), his [[String Quartets, Op. 51 (Brahms)|first two string quartets]] Op. 51 nos. 1 and 2 (1865–1873), the third piano quartet (1855–1875), and most notably his [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|first symphony]] which appeared in 1876, but which had been begun as early as 1855.{{sfn|Becker|1980|pp=174–179}}<ref name=bozarth4>{{harvnb|Bozarth and Frisch|2001|loc=§4, "At the summit"}}</ref>

During 1869, Brahms felt himself falling in love with the Schumanns' daughter Julie (then aged 24 to his 36). He did not declare himself. When later that year Julie's engagement to Count Marmorito was announced, he wrote and gave to Clara the manuscript of his ''[[Alto Rhapsody]]'' (Op. 53). Clara wrote in her diary that "he called it ''his'' wedding song" and noted "the profound pain in the text and the music".{{sfn|Petersen|1983|p=1}}

From 1872 to 1875, Brahms was director of the concerts of the Vienna [[Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde]], where he ensured that the orchestra was staffed only by professionals. He conducted a repertoire noted and criticized for its emphasis on early and often "serious" music, running from [[Heinrich Isaac|Isaac]], Bach, Handel, and Cherubini to the nineteenth century composers who were not of the New German School. Among these were Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Joachim, [[Ferdinand Hiller]], [[Max Bruch]] and himself (notably his large scale choral works, the ''German Requiem'', the ''Alto Rhapsody'', and the patriotic ''[[Triumphlied]]'', Op. 55, which celebrated Prussia's victory in the 1870/71 [[Franco-Prussian War]]).<ref name=bozarth4 /> 1873 saw the premiere of his orchestral ''[[Variations on a Theme by Haydn]]'', originally conceived for two pianos, which has become one of his most popular works.<ref name=bozarth4 />{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=383}}

===Success (1876–1889)===
[[File:Eduard Hanslick offering incense to Brahms; cartoon rom the Viennese journal 'Figaro', 1890.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Eduard Hanslick]] offering incense to Brahms; cartoon from the Viennese satirical magazine ''[[Figaro (Vienna)|Figaro]]'', 1890]]

====First symphonies and orchestral music====
Brahms's [[Symphony No. 1 (Brahms)|First Symphony]], Op. 68, appeared in 1876, though it had been begun (and a version of the first movement had been announced by Brahms to Clara and to Albert Dietrich) in the early 1860s. During the decade it evolved very gradually; the finale may not have begun its conception until 1868.{{sfn|Musgrave|1999b|pp=42–43}} Brahms was cautious and typically self-deprecating about the symphony during its creation, writing to his friends that it was "long and difficult", "not exactly charming" and, significantly, "long and in [[C Minor]]", which, as [[Richard Taruskin]] points out, made it clear "that Brahms was taking on the model of models [for a symphony]: [[Symphony No. 5 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Fifth]]."{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=694}}

Despite the warm reception the First Symphony received, Brahms remained dissatisfied and extensively revised the second movement before the work was published. There followed a succession of well-received orchestral works: the [[Symphony No. 2 (Brahms)|Second Symphony]] Op. 73 (1877), the [[Violin Concerto (Brahms)|Violin Concerto]] Op. 77 (1878; dedicated to Joachim, who was consulted closely during its composition), and the ''[[Academic Festival Overture]]'' (written following the conferring of an honorary degree by the [[University of Wrocław|University of Breslau]]) and ''[[Tragic Overture]]'' of 1880.

====Fame, criticism, and Dvořák====
In May 1876, Cambridge University offered to grant honorary degrees of Doctor of Music to both Brahms and Joachim, provided that they composed new pieces as "theses" and were present in Cambridge to receive their degrees. Brahms was averse to traveling to England and requested to receive the degree 'in absentia', offering as his thesis the previously performed (November 1876) symphony.{{sfn|Pascall|2004}} But of the two, only Joachim went to England and was granted a degree. Brahms "acknowledged the invitation" by giving the manuscript score and parts of his First Symphony to Joachim, who led the performance at Cambridge 8 March 1877 (English premiere).{{sfn|Anon.|1916|pp=205–206}}

The commendation of Brahms by Breslau as "the leader in the art of serious music in Germany today" led to a bilious comment from Wagner in his essay "On Poetry and Composition": "I know of some famous composers who in their concert masquerades don the disguise of a street-singer one day, the hallelujah periwig of [[Georg Frideric Handel|Handel]] the next, the dress of a Jewish [[Czardas]]-fiddler another time, and then again the guise of a highly respectable symphony dressed up as Number Ten" (referring to Brahms's First Symphony as a putative tenth symphony of Beethoven).{{sfn|Taruskin|2010|p=729}}

Brahms was now recognised as a major figure in the world of music. He had been on the jury which awarded the Vienna State Prize to the (then little-known) composer [[Antonín Dvořák]] three times, first in February 1875, and later in 1876 and 1877, and had successfully recommended Dvořák to his publisher, Simrock. The two men met for the first time in 1877, and Dvořák dedicated to Brahms his [[String Quartet No. 9 (Dvořák)|String Quartet, Op. 34]] of that year.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=444–446}} He also began to be the recipient of a variety of honours: [[Ludwig II of Bavaria]] awarded him the [[Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art|Maximilian Order for Science and Art]] in 1874, and the music-loving [[Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen|Duke George of Meiningen]] awarded him the Commander's Cross of the Order of the House of Meiningen in 1881.{{sfnm|Musgrave|1999a|1loc=xv|Musgrave|2000|2loc=171|Swafford|1999|3loc=467}}

At this time Brahms also chose to change his image. Having been always clean-shaven, in 1878 he surprised his friends by growing a beard, writing in September to the conductor [[Bernhard Scholz]]: "I am coming with a large beard! Prepare your wife for a most awful sight."{{sfn|Hofmann|Hofmann|2010|p=57}} The singer [[George Henschel]] recalled that after a concert "I saw a man unknown to me, rather stout, of middle height, with long hair and a full beard. In a very deep and hoarse voice he introduced himself as 'Musikdirektor Müller'&nbsp;... an instant later, we all found ourselves laughing heartily at the perfect success of Brahms's disguise." The incident also displays Brahms's love of practical jokes.{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|pp=4, 6}}

In 1882 Brahms completed his [[Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms)|Piano Concerto No. 2]], Op. 83, dedicated to his teacher Marxsen.<ref name=bozarth4 /> Brahms was invited by [[Hans von Bülow]] to undertake a premiere of the work with the [[Meiningen Court Orchestra]]. This was the beginning of his collaboration with Meiningen and with von Bülow, who was to rank Brahms as one of the '[[Three Bs]]'; in a letter to his wife he wrote: "You know what I think of Brahms: after Bach and Beethoven the greatest, the most sublime of all composers."{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=465–466}}

====Later symphonies and continuing recognition====
The following years saw the premieres of his [[Symphony No. 3 (Brahms)|Third Symphony]], Op. 90 (1883) and his [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Fourth Symphony]], Op. 98 (1885). [[Richard Strauss]], who had been appointed assistant to von Bülow at Meiningen, and had been uncertain about Brahms's music, found himself converted by the Third Symphony and was enthusiastic about the Fourth: "a giant work, great in concept and invention".{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|p=252}} Another, but more cautious, supporter from the younger generation was [[Gustav Mahler]], who first met Brahms in 1884 and remained a close acquaintance.  He considered Brahms a conservative master who was more turned toward the past than the future. He rated Brahms as technically superior to [[Anton Bruckner]], but more earth-bound than Wagner and Beethoven.{{sfn|Musgrave|2000|pp=253–254}}

In 1889, [[Adelbert Theodor Wangemann|Theo Wangemann]], a representative of the American inventor [[Thomas Edison]], visited the composer in Vienna and invited him to make an experimental recording. Brahms played an abbreviated version of his first Hungarian Dance and of [[Josef Strauss]]'s ''[[Die Libelle]]'' on the piano. Although the spoken introduction to the short piece of music is quite clear, the piano playing is largely inaudible due to heavy [[surface noise]].<ref>{{YouTube|BZXL3I7GPCY|J. Brahms plays excerpt of Hungarian Dance No. 1 (2:10)}} Analysts and scholars remain divided as to whether the voice that introduces the piece is that of Wangemann or of Brahms. A "denoised" version of the recording was produced at [[Stanford University]]. [https://ccrma.stanford.edu/groups/edison/brahms/brahms.html "Brahms at the Piano"] by [[Jonathan Berger]] ([[CCRMA]], Stanford University)</ref>

In that same year, Brahms was named an [[List of honorary citizens of Hamburg|honorary citizen of Hamburg]].<ref>[https://www.hamburg.de/ehrenbuerger/biographien/ehrenbuerger-vor-1900/4657054/johannes-brahms/ "Stadt Hamburg Ehrenbürger" website: Dr. phil. h.c. Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)] {{in lang|de}} Retrieved 14 October 2019</ref>

===Old age (1889–1897)===
[[File:Strauss und Brahms.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|[[Johann Strauss II]] (left) and Brahms, photographed in Vienna]]

====Friendship with J. Strauss====
Brahms and [[Johann Strauss II]] were acquainted in the 1870s, but their close friendship belongs to the years 1889 and after. Brahms admired much of Strauss's music and encouraged the composer to sign with his publisher Simrock. In autographing a fan for Strauss's wife Adele, Brahms wrote the opening notes of ''[[The Blue Danube]]'' waltz, adding the words "unfortunately not by Johannes Brahms".<ref name=Lamb>{{harvnb|Lamb|1975|pp=869–870}}</ref> He made the effort, three weeks before his death, to attend the premiere of Johann Strauss's operetta ''[[Die Göttin der Vernunft]]'' (The Goddess of Reason) in March 1897.<ref name=Lamb />

[[File:Zentralfriedhof Vienna - Brahms.JPG|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Grave in the [[Vienna Central Cemetery]]; monument designed by [[Victor Horta]] and sculpture by [[Ilse von Twardowski]]]]

====Late chamber music and songs====
After the successful Vienna premiere of his [[String Quintet No. 2 (Brahms)|Second String Quintet]], Op. 111 in 1890, the 57-year-old Brahms came to think that he might retire from composition, telling a friend that he "had achieved enough; here I had before me a carefree old age and could enjoy it in peace."{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=568–569}} He also began to find solace in escorting the mezzo-soprano [[Alice Barbi]] and may have proposed to her (she was only 28).{{sfn|Swafford|1999|p=569}} His admiration for [[Richard Mühlfeld]], clarinettist with the Meiningen orchestra, revived his interest in composing and led him to write the [[Clarinet Trio (Brahms)|Clarinet Trio]], Op.&nbsp;114 (1891); [[Clarinet Quintet (Brahms)|Clarinet Quintet]], Op.&nbsp;115 (1891); and the two [[Clarinet Sonatas (Brahms)|Clarinet Sonatas]], Op.&nbsp;120 (1894).

Brahms also wrote at this time his final cycles of piano pieces, Opp.&nbsp;[[Fantasies, Op. 116 (Brahms)|116]]–[[Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 (Brahms)|119]] and the ''[[Vier ernste Gesänge]]'' (Four Serious Songs), Op.&nbsp;121 (1896), which were prompted by the death of Clara Schumann and dedicated to the artist [[Max Klinger]], who was his great admirer.<ref>{{cite web|title=Max Klinger / Johannes Brahms: Engraving, Music and Fantasy|url=https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-museums/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay-more/article/max-klinger-johannes-brahms-engraving-music-and-fantasy-4485.html|website=[[Musée d'Orsay]]|access-date=2 March 2021|archive-date=17 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210417023216/https://www.musee-orsay.fr/en/events/exhibitions/in-the-museums/exhibitions-in-the-musee-dorsay-more/article/max-klinger-johannes-brahms-engraving-music-and-fantasy-4485.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The last of the [[Eleven Chorale Preludes]] for organ, Op.&nbsp;122 (1896) is a setting of "O Welt ich muss dich lassen" ("O world I must leave thee") and the last notes that Brahms wrote.{{sfn|Bond|1971|p=898}} Many of these works were written in his house in [[Bad Ischl]], where Brahms had first visited in 1882 and where he spent every summer from 1889 onwards.{{sfn|Hofmann|Hofmann|2010|p=42}}

====Terminal illness====
In the summer of 1896 Brahms was diagnosed with [[jaundice]] and [[pancreatic cancer]], and later in the year his Viennese doctor diagnosed him with [[liver cancer]], from which his father Jakob had died.{{sfn|Swafford|1999|pp=614–615}} His last public appearance was on 7 March 1897, when he saw [[Hans Richter (conductor)|Hans Richter]] conduct his [[Symphony No. 4 (Brahms)|Symphony No. 4]]; there was an ovation after each of the four movements.<ref>{{cite book|last=Clive|first=Peter|title=Brahms and His World: A Biographical Dictionary|chapter=Richter, Hans|publisher=Scarecrow Press|year=2006|page=361|isbn=978-1-4617-2280-9}}</ref> His condition gradually worsened and he died on 3 April 1897, in Vienna at the age of 63. Brahms is buried in the [[Vienna Central Cemetery]] in Vienna, under a monument designed by [[Victor Horta]] with sculpture by [[Ilse von Twardowski]].<ref>[http://www.viennatouristguide.at/Friedhoefe/Zentralfriedhof/Index_32A_Thumbs/z_index_32A_kl.htm#lageplan Zentralfriedhof group 32a], details</ref>