BRAHMS - A Collective Brahms was born in Hamburg. His father,
who gave him his first music lessons, was a double bassist.
Brahms showed early promise on the piano and helped to
supplement the rather meager family income by playing the piano
in restaurants and theaters, as well as by teaching. It is a
widely-told tale that Brahms had to play the piano in bars and
brothels as a child, but this is now doubted by scholars. The
young Brahms gave a few public concerts, but did not become well
known as a pianist (although in later life he gave the premieres
of both his Piano Concerto No. 1 in 1859 and his Piano Concerto
No. 2 in 1881). He also began to compose, but his efforts did
not receive much attention until he went on a concert tour with
Eduard Remenyi in 1853. On this tour he met Joseph Joachim,
Franz Liszt, and Robert Schumann. Joachim was to become one of
his closest friends, and Schumann, through articles championing
the young Brahms, played an important role in alerting the
public to the young man's compo