Brahms for kids: his life, his music, and what to play first

Johannes Brahms was a German composer who lived from 1833 to 1897. He wrote the lullaby that music boxes and baby toys play all over the world. He also wrote four symphonies, a great many songs, and a large body of piano music. The best first pieces for a child are the Lullaby and the Hungarian Dance No. 5.

Quick facts

• Born: 1833, in Hamburg, Germany
• Died: 1897, in Vienna, Austria
• Era: Romantic
• Played: piano
• Known for: four symphonies, the Hungarian Dances, the Lullaby, and A German Requiem

The life in short

Brahms grew up in a poor part of Hamburg, a port city. His father played the double bass and the horn for a living. Johannes began piano lessons at seven and was soon good enough to earn money by playing.

At 20, he went on a concert tour as the pianist for a violinist. On the way, he knocked on the door of the composer Robert Schumann and played for him. Schumann was so struck that he wrote an article telling the musical world to watch this young man.

Robert Schumann fell ill soon after. Brahms helped the family, and he and Clara Schumann stayed close friends for more than 40 years. He sent her his new pieces and asked what she thought. Read her story in Clara Schumann for kids.

Brahms moved to Vienna in his thirties and stayed. He was careful and slow with his biggest works. He spent about 20 years on his first symphony. He said he could hear Beethoven’s footsteps behind him.

He never married. He liked long walks, simple food, and the company of friends. A conductor of the time grouped him with two earlier composers as the three Bs: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms.

What the music sounds like

Brahms’s music is warm and full. The low instruments have plenty to do, so the sound is thick and rich.

He liked to play with rhythm. Two beats pull against three, and tunes start in places a listener does not expect. Tapping along is harder than it seems.

He also loved folk songs and dance tunes. The Lullaby and the Hungarian Dances come from that side of him.

Four pieces to play first

Lullaby. Brahms wrote it in 1868 for a friend who had just had a baby. It rocks in three beats to a bar. Sing it on “la” at bedtime.

Hungarian Dance No. 5. It races, pulls up short, crawls, and races again. Brahms wrote 21 of these dances for two players at one piano. This one is heard most often in a version for orchestra.

Waltz in A-flat major, Op. 39, No. 15. A gentle waltz for piano, under two minutes long.

Symphony No. 1, last movement. After a dark, slow start, a horn calls out over quiet strings. Then the violins begin a broad, noble tune. Many listeners hear an echo of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” in it.

Things to do together

Fast and slow. Play the Hungarian Dance No. 5. Dance when it is fast and freeze into slow motion when it slows. The words for these speeds are in tempo words in music.

Rock the doll. Play the Lullaby and rock a doll or a stuffed animal in time. Count “one, two, three” with each rock.

Hum it back. Play the first line of the Lullaby and stop. Ask your child to hum the next line.

Three Bs. Find Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms on the composer timeline. Count the years from one to the next.

Print and play

Print the Brahms fact sheet. It has the story, three pieces, and room to write and draw. For more quiet music at the end of the day, see calm classical music for kids at bedtime.

Next, read Beethoven for kids to meet the composer Brahms measured himself against, or meet his friend Dvořák in Dvořák for kids. For all 24 composers by era, see classical composers for kids.