Johannes Brahms

German composer and pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote four symphonies, two piano concertos, a violin concerto, chamber music, piano works, choral compositions (including motets and the German Requiem), and more than 200 songs. Brahms was the great master of symphonic and sonata style in the second half of the 19th century. He can be viewed as the protagonist of the Classical tradition of Joseph Haydn, W.A. Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven in a period when the standards of this tradition were being questioned or overturned by the Romantics. He also spent much of his career studying the music of earlier epochs, which had a strong influence particularly on his choral compositions. (Read more: Wikipedia article.)