Alfred Edwin Brain (February 4, 1860 in Turnham Green,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

– October 25, 1929 in London) was an English player of the

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most o ...

. He was the founder of a great school of English horn playing. His grandson

Dennis Brain Dennis Brain (17 May 19211 September 1957) was a British French horn, horn player. From a musical family – his father and grandfather were horn players – he attended the Royal Academy of Music in London. During the Second World War he served ...

was to become perhaps the most famous horn player of all time. Brain was born in 1860. His father fought in the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

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 (film), a 2023 Slovak black comedy movie * .invalid, a top-l ...

. Brain was not well educated. When he was 12 he joined the

Scots Guards The Scots Guards (SG) is one of the five Foot guards#United Kingdom, Foot Guards regiments of the British Army. Its origins are as the personal bodyguard of King Charles I of England and Scotland. Its lineage can be traced back to 1642 in the Ki ...

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 a traditionally male English language, English name. It was quite common in the Middle Ages, but had lost favour for a time before experiencing a resurgence of popularity in the 19th century. In the United States, following the 1973 ...

. 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 sit ...

. He played a lot for Henry Wood in

The Proms The BBC Proms is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in central London. Robert Newman founded The Proms in 1895. Since 1927, the ...

. 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 London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

. The four horn players in that orchestra, Adolf Borsdorf, 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 London Symphony Orchestra players