Alfred Edwin Brain (February 4, 1860 in Turnham Green,
London – October 25, 1929 in London) was an
English player of the
French horn. He was the founder of a great school of English horn playing. His grandson
Dennis Brain was to become perhaps the most famous horn player of all time.
Brain was born in 1860. His father fought in the
Crimean War and was an
invalid
Invalid may refer to:
* Patient, a sick person
* one who is confined to home or bed because of illness, disability or injury (sometimes considered a politically incorrect term)
* .invalid, a top-level Internet domain not intended for real use
As t ...
. Brain was not well educated. When he was 12 he joined the
Scots Guards and played the horn in the band. He married in 1880 and had seven children. Two of the children became great horn players:
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
and
Aubrey
Aubrey is traditionally a male English given name. The name is from the French derivation Aubry of the Germanic given name Alberic / Old High German given name Alberich, which consists of the elements ALF "elf" and RIK "king", from Proto-Germani ...
.
He played in several orchestras, including the Philharmonic Society, the Queen's Hall Orchestra and
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
. He played a lot for Henry Wood in
The Proms. In orchestras he nearly always played fourth horn, so his nickname was "George IV". In 1904, he became a founding member of the
London Symphony Orchestra. The four horn players in that orchestra,
Adolf Borsdorf
Friedrich Adolph Borsdorf (born Dittmansdorf, Saxony, 25 December 1854; died London, 15 April 1923), was a German player of the French horn.
Borsdorf was born in Saxony in 1854. He studied the French horn at the Conservatoire in Dresden and play ...
, Thomas Busby, Henri Van der Meerschen and Brain, were often called "God's Own Quartet" because they blended together so well.
He died in 1929 after a short retirement.
References
*Oxford Music Online retrieved 21.11.2010
* Pettitt, Stephen. ''Dennis Brain: A Biography''. London: Robert Hale, 1976.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brain, Alfred Edwin, Sr.
1860 births
1929 deaths
English classical horn players
Musicians from London