Johannes Brahms had an unhappy childhood. His family lived in poverty in a crowded tenement on the waterfront of Hamburg, Germany. His parents fought continuously. Little Johannes hated school, and he often went to bed hungry. However, he loved music. He made up little melodies and wrote them on paper with a kind of musical notation that he had created.

Father Brahms was an amateur musician. He took note of his son's talent and found a piano teacher for him. Johannes learned so quickly that he was soon earning some badly-needed coins by playing in taverns along the waterfront.

Fortunately, when Brahms was ten years old, he was able to take lessons from the best piano teacher in Hamburg. His progress was so rapid that he gave a piano recital when he was only fourteen. He played one of his own compositions.

When Brahms was twenty, a famous violinist asked Johannes to tour with him as his accompanist. This opened many doors for him, since he met many other famous musicians. Liszt praised him, and Robert and Clara Schumann recognized his genius. The Schumanns were lifelong friends with Brahms and helped his music to become known and published.

Like many musicians of the Romantic Period, Brahms moved to Vienna. He wrote four symphonies, one violin concerto, two piano concertos, and the "Double Concerto" for violin, cello and orchestra. He composed in all forms except opera. Many children have been rocked to sleep with their parent's singing of Brahms' Lullaby.

The Hungarian Dances are all a part of one concert piece. They were originally written for four hands. Later they were arranged for piano and violin, and then into a work for full orchestra.

It took four years for Brahms to complete his Symphony No. 1. It was a great success. One musician called it "Beethoven's Tenth Symphony." Many others called Brahms "Beethoven's heir" because Brahms was seen as the greatest symphonic composer since Beethoven. Unlike Beethoven, Brahms became rich from the sales of his compositions. More importantly, he was beloved and acclaimed.