What is Dennis Brain?
[[File:Dennis-brain-alex.jpg|thumb|250px|Brain's [[Gebr. Alexander|Alexander]] [[horn (instrument)#double horn|B{{music|flat}}/A model 90 horn]], damaged in the crash, restored by [[Paxman Musical Instruments|Paxman]] and now on display at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] ]] '''Dennis Brain''' (born 17 May 1921; died London, 1 September 1957) was a [[British people|British]] [[French horn|horn]] player. During his short life he became world-famous. Many people thought of him as the greatest horn player ever. He made the horn very popular among classical music lovers in [[Great Britain|Britain]]. His recordings include the four horn concertos by [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart]] which he recorded with the [[Philharmonia Orchestra]] conducted by [[Herbert von Karajan]]. ==Life== ===Early years=== Dennis Brain was born in [[London]] on 17 May 1921. Several of his family were horn players, including his father [[Aubrey Brain|Aubrey]], his grandfather [[Alfred Edwin Brain Sr]] and his uncle [[Alfred Edwin Brain Jr]]. His mother Marion was a singer who had sung at [[Royal Opera House|Covent Garden]]. He had a brother Leonard who was 6 years older and who was to become an excellent [[oboe]] player. Dennis started to learn the [[piano]]. He also played [[bugle]] in the school cadet band at Richmond Hill Preparatory School. From there he was sent to St Paul’s School in [[Kensington]] where he sang in the choir and played piano solos at concerts. In 1936 he left school and got a [[scholarship]] to the [[Royal Academy of Music]] where he learned the horn with his father as well as the piano and, from 1938, the [[pipe organ|organ]]. He learned a lot from his organ teacher G.D.Cunningham who had taught his uncle Alfred the piano some 40 years before. Dennis’s first professional concert was at the [[Queen’s Hall]] in 1938 when he played [[Johann Sebastian Bach|Bach’s]] [[Brandenburg Concertos|Brandenburg Concerto no 1]] together with his father (there are important solo parts for two horns in this music). Soon he was p