It is not easy to write of Brahms without seeming to exaggerate, because if we speak of his songs we must say that no one ever created more beautiful song form; if we speak of his chamber music we must acknowledge that he understood writing for instruments as no one before or since has surpassed. His piano pieces, too, are pure delight! Where will one find finer work than his one concerto for violin and those for piano? His four symphonies have so far been unsurpassable and his choral works, too. If he had never written anything but the _German Requiem_ this would have marked him as one of the world’s masters. Has he not justified Schumann’s exclamation upon meeting him in 1853, when Brahms was twenty years old? “Graces and Heroes have watched the cradle of this young genius who sprang ‘like Minerva, fully armed from the head of Jove.’” But Brahms was very modest and was always embarrassed in the presence of praise. While he was compared to Beethoven he waited until very late in life to write symphonies. “How can I write a symphony,” he is reported to have said, “when I feel the shadow of the great Beethoven treading constantly behind me?” He was born in Hamburg. His father, who was a musician, rejoiced greatly when little Johannes at an early age gave proof that he was gifted. The Brahms family was very poor, and instead of becoming a great artist according to his desire, Johannes’ father from the time he was old enough to earn his living, was a double-bass player. Even though he was the best in Hamburg, he and his wife, who was also musical, had to struggle and save to give their little son the best teachers in piano and composition. In order to make more than the small amount gained by playing in the orchestras the father organized what we call “the little German band” which played in the open air. Father Brahms and five other musicians attracted the people wherever they went. The boy who had begun to earn a few pennies by arranging dances and marches for the little bands of the cafés, wrote music for his father’s band, and early in the morning even while he brushed shoes before others were awake, the thoughts which became his loveliest songs came to his mind. BRAHMS MEETS REMENYI When Johannes was fifteen he gave his first public piano recital and made a deep impression. It started him on the road to fame, for he played so well that he was engaged to accompany the Gypsy violinist, Remenyi, who played all over the world and became very famous. Brahms went into many countries with him but never came to America, where Remenyi was a great idol. Gypsy-like, he was happy in his wanderings and when he was old went into vaudeville, drawing thousands wherever he played. He was about to face one of these immense audiences in San Francisco but drew only a few tones from his beloved violin when his magic fingers were stilled in death!