Brahms-Museum Hamburg
A typical merchant’s house, built in 1751 and a listed building, has been the home of the Hamburg Brahms Museum now for almost four decades. It is located close to where Johannes Brahms’ birthplace stood until its destruction in 1943.
The Johannes Brahms Society is both the initiator and the body responsible for the museum, its exhibition rooms having been made available very generously by the Carl Toepfer Trust. It opened its doors to the public for the first time on the 26th August 1971 with large numbers of Hamburg’s music lovers present.
This portrayal of the life and work of Brahms concentrates on the almost thirty years in which Brahms received his pianistic and compositional training and wrote his first epoch-making works. He was already 29 years old when in September 1862 he set off for Vienna for the first time. At that time Vienna was music’s capital city and it was here that he found a home away from home for the rest of his life.
On show are music, documents, concert programmes, and Brahms’ memorabilia, as well as photos, busts of Brahms, including the marble bust by the Viennese sculptress Ilse Conrad as depicted here, which is on permanent loan from the Hamburg Art Gallery. Another of the Museums prized possessions is the square piano (tafelklavier) by the Hamburg piano manufacturer Baumgardten & Heins of approx. 1859 which Brahms used for giving lessons.
The museum has a collection of CDs with the complete works of Brahms, a reference library including all the volumes of the old, as well as the new edition of his entire works as published to date.
It goes without saying that the museum takes part in the annual “Long Nights of the Museums in Hamburg”. Finally, there are different special and showcase exhibitions which highlight particular aspects of his work and the personality of the composer, his friends and associates.
Directions & Opening Hours
The museum can be reached by public transport:
Underground line U2, Messehallen station, exit Musikhalle.
Underground line U3, St. Pauli station.
Bus number 112, bus stop Museum für Hamburger Geschichte
Bus number 36 (Schnellbus) bus stop Johannes Brahms Platz or St. Pauli
Opening Hours
Tuesdays – Sundays 10.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.
On December 24th and 25th as well as January 1st the museum is closed!
Admission
Admission is € 4, students, pensioners etc € 2. (Children under the age of 14 are admitted free of charge.)
Guided tours
Groups requiring guided tours are kindly requested to apply in advance using any of the following:
Tel. +49 40 4191 3086
Fax +49 40 3501 6861
E-Mail: info@brahms-hamburg.de
(For groups of at least eight full-paying visitors the guided tour is free. For groups of fewer than eight the minimum entrance fee is € 30.)
Special and showcase exhibitions since 2001
- Original-Korrespondenzen und andere Brahmsiana
Aus dem Besitz der Johannes-Brahms-Gesellschaft Hamburg - Eine Heimstatt für Johannes Brahms
Aus der Geschichte des Hauses Peterstraße 39 - Von Brahms vertont
Die Sammlung Brahms-Texte von Gustav Ophüls - Johannes Brahms -
Menschen aus seinem Hamburger Umkreis
und ihre Gräber auf dem Ohlsdorfer Friedhof
(in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Förderkreis Ohlsdorfer Friedhof e.V.) - Die Krönung der Tonkunst durch Hammonia
Der Hamburger Ehrenbürger Johannes Brahms - Johannes Brahms: Ein deutsches Requiem -
100 Jahre Hamburger Bußtagskonzerte - Johannes Brahms und Joseph Joachim -
Eine Künstlerfreundschaft - Aufbruch Brahms 1853 -
Die erste Konzertreise des jungen Genies - „ ... brillant aufgestellt.“
Max Klingers Brahms-Denkmal für Hamburg. 1909 - 2009 - „Kreisler senior & Kreisler junior“ -
Robert Schumann und der junge Brahms - „ ... eine kleine Gesangsrepublik.“ -
Johannes Brahms und der Hamburger Frauenchor 1859 - 1861
(under way)