Johannes Brahms

The 20-year-old Brahms met Joachim on a concert tour; they became lifelong friends. Joachim introduced him to Robert Schumann, who had already written about his work, and to Liszt, who played a scherzo of his at sight at their first meeting (Brahms fell asleep when Liszt played his own work). Clara Schumann became a strong, close, lifelong friend — speculation has been that they were lovers. He met Grieg and Tchaikovsky in Leipzig, Keller in Switzerland, and was a strong supporter of Zemlinsky. He failed to get on with Wagner, and his nationalism was disliked by Andersen. Strauss was another friend for life.