Aubrey Brain facts for kids

Aubrey Brain (born in London on 12 July 1893; died in London on 21 September 1955) was a famous British French horn player. His family was full of talented horn players! His father, Alfred Edwin Brain senior, played in Henry Wood’s orchestra at the very first Proms concert in 1895. He later played for the London Symphony Orchestra. Aubrey's brother, also named Alfred Edwin Brain, was a top horn player in Henry Wood’s Queen’s Hall Orchestra. He later moved to the USA and played for the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Aubrey's own son, Dennis Brain, became one of the most famous French horn players ever.

Life of a Musician

Early Musical Steps

Aubrey Brain was born in London in 1893. He started learning the horn from his father. In 1911, he won a special scholarship to study at the Royal College of Music. He quickly became one of Britain's best horn players. Other great horn players at the time included his father, his older brother, and Adolf Borsdorf.

Aubrey became the main horn player for the Beecham Opera Company. There, he met Marion Beeley, a singer. They got married in the summer of 1914, just before World War I began. When the war started, he joined the Welsh Guards and played horn in their band.

After the war, it was hard for Aubrey to find a really good horn job at first. His brother Alfred already had many of the best positions. Aubrey and Marion had two sons: Leonard (born 1915) and Dennis (born 1921). In 1922, his brother Alfred moved to the United States. This opened up opportunities for Aubrey. He soon became the first horn player for the Royal Philharmonic Society (his father played second horn). He also became the first horn for the Queen’s Hall Orchestra. Soon after, he joined the orchestra at Covent Garden as their main horn player. In 1923, he also joined the London Symphony Orchestra.

In 1923, Adolf Borsdorf retired from teaching horn at the Royal Academy of Music. Aubrey took his place as professor. One of his first students was his younger brother, Arthur. Arthur was very talented, but he chose not to become a professional horn player. Instead, he joined the police. Later, Aubrey’s son, Dennis, also became one of his students.

A Successful Career

Aubrey had a very successful career. He was not only a main horn player in several orchestras but also a great soloist. He played Mozart’s Second Horn Concerto in 1923 at The Proms. You can hear his playing on some of the very first recordings the LSO made for HMV.

Several pieces of music were written especially for him. One was the Concerto for French horn, Violin, and Orchestra by Dame Ethel Smyth. He played it very well, even the chords in the last part. (It's possible to play chords on the horn by humming one note and playing another note from the harmonic series!) He performed this piece at the Proms. The famous conductor Bruno Walter even invited him to play it in Berlin. This made Aubrey the first British horn player to perform a solo concerto abroad.

When the BBC Symphony Orchestra started in 1930, Aubrey became their main horn player. At first, he was still the principal horn player with other big London orchestras. This would be impossible today! But slowly, he gave up those other jobs as the BBC Symphony Orchestra needed its players to work full-time.

Aubrey played a French-style horn called a “Raoux horn.” It had a narrow tube inside. German-style horns had a wider tube and made a slightly different sound. Playing a Raoux horn meant there was a higher chance of a note "cracking" (not sounding right). German-style horns were becoming very popular in England. However, Aubrey insisted that all the horn players in the BBC Symphony Orchestra continued to use Raoux horns.

Aubrey was also a very skilled musician in chamber music (music for small groups of instruments). He made a famous recording with violinist Adolf Busch and pianist Rudolf Serkin. They played the Brahms Horn Trio. It sold many copies and remained popular for years until old 78rpm records were replaced by newer long-playing records.

Later Years and Retirement

During the war, Aubrey started to have some health problems. He had a bad fall on Christmas Day in 1940. Towards the end of the war, his vision became blurry, his speech became unclear, and he had strange feelings in his fingers and toes. He retired in 1945 after the first practice for the Proms season. He still played music sometimes, usually with his son Dennis. Aubrey died on 20 September 1955, a few days after another bad fall.

His Legacy

Aubrey Brain might not be as well-known today because his son Dennis became incredibly famous. However, Aubrey was a truly great horn player. He helped make horn playing in Britain much better, both through his teaching and by showing others how to play so well. The recordings you can hear him on were all made before long-playing records existed. His older son, Leonard, also became a well-known oboist.

See Also

• Oxford Music Online, retrieved 21.11.2010
• Pettitt, Stephen. Dennis Brain: A Biography. London: Robert Hale, 1976. ISBN: 0-7091-5772-X

Images for kids

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  Aubrey Brain's Raoux piston-valve horn on display at the Royal Academy of Music.