It has been truly said that great composers cannot be compared one with
another. Each is a solitary star, revolving in his own orbit. For instance
it is impossible to compare Wagner and Brahms; the former could not have
written the German Requiem or the four Symphonies any more than Brahms could
have composed "Tristan." In the combination of arts which Wagner fused into
a stupendous whole, he stands without a rival. But Brahms is also a mighty
composer in his line of effort, for he created music that continually grows
in beauty as it is better known.
Johannes Brahms was born in Hamburg, May 7, 1833. The house at 60
Speckstrasse still stands, and doubtless looks much as it did seventy years
ago. A locality of dark, narrow streets with houses tall and gabled and
holding as many families as possible. Number 60 stands in a dismal court,
entered by a close narrow passage. A steep wooden staircase in the center,
used to have gates, closed at night. Jakob and Johanna lived in the first
floor dwelling to the left. It consisted of a sort of lobby or half kitchen,
a small living room and a tiny sleeping closet—nothing else. In this and
other small tenements like it, the boy's early years were spent. It
certainly was an ideal case of low living and high thinking.
The Brahms family were musical but very poor in this world's goods. The
father was a contra bass player in the theater; he often had to play in
dance halls and beer gardens, indeed where he could. Later he became a
member of the band that gave nightly concerts at the Alster Pavillion. The
mother, much older than her husband, tried to help out the family finances
by keeping a little shop where needles and thread were sold.
