Johannes Brahms
A rare photo of Brahms (with hands behind his back) walking with his brother Fritz, farthest right in photo.
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Who was called “the wrong Brahms”?
Brahms was the middle child of three siblings. His brother Friedrich “Fritz” was two years younger than Brahms. Wanting to following in the footsteps of his brother rather than his father (an orchestral musician), Friedrich took piano lessons with the same teachers as Johannes. Though “reasonably bright and talented,” according to Jan Swafford, Friedrich could not be measured by the same standards as his brother. This was not lost on Johannes, who wasted no energy on brotherly love. “Most of the time,” Swafford writes, “Johannes simply ignored Fritz.” While Johannes carved out a reputation as one of the world’s greatest living composers, Friedrich became known around town as “the wrong Brahms.” Undaunted, Friedrich parlayed his reasonable brightness and talent (and recognizable family name) into a successful piano teaching career.
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How did Brahms help his family finances as a teenager and what effect did this have on him?
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