Johannes Brahms was skilled, productive, successful and enormously popular; but rather conservative in contrast to many of his more progressive contemporaries. His symphonies and concertos are Classical in form and highly polished, and would seem overblown were it not for a plethora of sumptious airs and phrases (mini-masterpieces of composition and
orchestration within a less-inspired larger vehicle, if you will)
scattered about every movement. It is in the details that Brahms excells. This is why his smaller works -chambre pieces and sonatas - are so imaginative and energetic. The very fact that Brahms' First Symphony was critically hailed as "Beethoven's Tenth" gives some indication as to the composer's reliance on established formal and creative conventions. Beethoven had been dead for fifty years!
Additionally, Brahms' personal disdain for Liszt, Wagner, Bruchner and other composers of the so-called New German School is further evidence of his unwillingness to conform to the rapidly changing aesthetic environment of the second half of the 19th century. True, Brahms and the young Gustav Mahler were friends, but at the time, Mahler was known as a great conductor of existing works; there's no evidence that Brahms had any regard for Mahler's composition.
Born to a musical family of meager material resources in Hamburg, Brahms began his studies in piano and composition early. He was always industrious and methodical - fascinated with musical form and precedent. His desire was to be accepted in society both as a conductor and a composer, but early-on his outspoken conservatism sometimes got in his way. Robert Schumann befriended him, as they shared a similar musical outlook. (They also shared Schumann's wife, Clara, but we'll leave that alone in this all-too-short bio.)
Brahms sought his fortune in Vienna, the musical Capital of Europe, and met with some success. He also toured the continent playing his own compositions to increasingly receptive audiences. And, like many composers, he supplemented his scant income by teaching . Finally, his breakthrough came in 1869 with the debut of A German Requiem - a massive choral and orchestral work which brought him both the critical acclaim he desired and the financial security he needed. With new-found confidence he attacked the form that had so-long intimidated him - the symphony. He composed four of them during the remainder of his life, along with a number of large-scale concertos; each work elaborate and finely honed, and each a homage to the Classical era of his musical forefathers.

- Greg Knepp, ClassicT-Shirt.com

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