Editing Dennis Brain (section)

===Early years===

[[File:Brain-tree.png|thumb|upright=1.25|alt=Family tree showing Brain's grandfather horn player, father horn player, brother oboist, and Brain]]

Brain was born in [[Hammersmith]], London on 17 May 1921 to a musical family. His mother, Marion, ''née'' Beeley (1887–1954), was a singer at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]] and his father, [[Aubrey Brain|Aubrey Harold Brain]], was first horn of the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] and regarded as "the leading exponent of the instrument in Britain at that time".<ref name=odnb/> Aubrey's father, [[Alfred Edwin Brain, Sr.]], and elder brother, [[Alfred Edwin Brain Jr.]], had been prominent horn players in Britain, and in the latter's case the US.{{refn|Alfred Jr (1885–1966) emigrated to the US in 1923, where he was principal horn of the [[New York Symphony Orchestra]] and, for 14 years, of the [[Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra]]. He became manager of the [[Hollywood Bowl]] concerts and from 1943 until his retirement played in the film studio orchestras of [[MGM]] and [[20th Century Fox]].<ref name=grove/>|group=n}} Brain's elder brother, Leonard (1915–1975), became a leading player of the [[oboe]] and [[cor anglais]],<ref name=g1>Gamble and Lynch, p. 1</ref> principal of the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]].<ref>Waymark Peter. "Celebration to mark RPO's first concert", ''The Times'', 15 September 1971, p. 17</ref>
Brain was educated at Richmond Hill Preparatory School and then [[St Paul's School, London]].<ref>Gamble and Lynch, p. 2</ref> Although it was assumed that he would become a horn player, his father kept him largely away from the instrument as a boy, in the belief that it should not be played until the adult teeth developed. Brain was allowed to blow a few notes on his father's horn every Saturday morning, to maintain his interest, but his first musical studies were piano and organ.<ref name=g1/>

In 1936 Brain was admitted to the [[Royal Academy of Music]] (RAM) to study horn under his father, who was a professor of the instrument there. He also studied piano with Max Pirani, organ with [[G. D. Cunningham]] and harmony with [[Montague Phillips]].<ref>Gamble and Lynch, pp. 3 and 6</ref> His professional début was on 6 October 1938 when he played in [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach's]] [[Brandenburg Concertos#Concerto No. 1 in F major, BWV 1046|Brandenburg Concerto no. 1]] (which features two [[concertante]] horn parts) as second horn to his father in the [[Queen's Hall]], London, under the baton of [[Adolf Busch]]. The music critic of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' wrote:
{{blockindent|In the F major concerto Aubrey Brain was in his accustomed place as first horn but he had a new partner, his 17-year old son, Dennis, whose first appearance this was—a Queen's Hall event of no little interest. The famous family keeps up its traditions in the representative of the new generation. Son seconded father with a smoothness and certainty worthy of his name.<ref>''Quoted'' in Gamble and Lynch, p. 8</ref>}}
The following month Brain and his brother were soloists in a concert featuring [[Mozart]]'s [[Horn Quintet (Mozart)|Horn Quintet]] (K. 407) and [[Oboe Quartet (Mozart)|Oboe Quintet]] (K. 370).<ref>"Recitals of the Week", ''The Times'', 4 November 1938, p. 12</ref> He appeared with ensembles including the [[Sidney Griller|Griller]] and [[Busch Quartet|Busch]] quartets and made broadcasts for the [[BBC]], the first of which, in February 1939, featured Mozart's Divertimento in D (K334) with Aubrey as first horn and Dennis as second.<ref>[https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/b6d2bcab0dc24b829d455babbcbb6fc8 "Tuesday National"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210614175727/https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/b6d2bcab0dc24b829d455babbcbb6fc8 |date=2021-06-14 }}, ''Radio Times'', 26 February 1939, p. 38</ref> In the same month father and son recorded the work for [[Columbia Graphophone Company|Columbia]] with the [[Léner Quartet]].<ref name=legge>[[Walter Legge|Legge, Walter]]. [https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/dennis-brain-obituary-gramophone-november-1957 "Dennis Brain"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210519181749/https://www.gramophone.co.uk/features/article/dennis-brain-obituary-gramophone-november-1957 |date=2021-05-19 }}, ''The Gramophone'', November 1957. Retrieved 12 June 2021</ref>