Dennis Brain

Dennis Brain (17 May 1921 – 1 September 1957) was a British virtuoso horn player who was largely credited for popularizing the horn as a solo classical instrument with the post-war British public. With the collaboration of Herbert von Karajan and the Philharmonia Orchestra, he produced what many still consider to be the definitive recordings of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's horn concerti.

Dennis Brain was born in London to a family already well known for producing fine horn players.

His grandfather, Alfred Edwin Brain, Sr. (4 February 1860 – 25 October 1925), was considered one of the top horn soloists of his time, while his uncle, Alfred Edwin Brain Jr. (24 October 1885 – 29 March 1966), had a successful career playing horn in the United States with the New York Symphony Society and later as a soloist in Hollywood. Brain's father, Aubrey (12 July 1893 – 21 September 1955), was a teacher and held the principal horn position in the BBC Symphony Orchestra, producing the first Mozart horn concerto recording in 1927. Brain's mother, Marion Brain, was also a composer and wrote cadenzas to the first and third Mozart horn concerti which her husband then performed. The family tradition also extended to his brother, Leonard Brain, (1915–1975), an oboist who performed with Dennis in a wind quintet that Dennis formed. Tina Brain, one of Leonard's children (Dennis' niece), also became a professional horn player.

At an early age, Brain was allowed to blow a few notes on his father's horn every Saturday morning. Aubrey Brain held the belief that students should not study the horn seriously until the later teenage years, when the teeth and embouchure became fully developed. During these years, Brain studied piano and organ. It was not until the age of 15 that Dennis was to transfer from St Paul's School to the Royal Academy of Music to study horn, under his father's tutelage. While there, he continued his piano studies under Max Pirani and organ under G. D. Cunningham.

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