Dennis Brain was born in 1921 to a family of horn players.
His father, two uncles, and his grandfather all played the horn to a very high, professional standard.
Dennis started to play the horn at his final year at St Paul's school, in 1935.
It only took him just over a year to master the horn, and he started a professional career after learning the horn for just 15 months.
At first, he played on a Raoux single F horn (piston valves), then changed to an Alexander single Bb horn (rotary valves) around 1953.
All through his highly successful career, he gave celebrated performances, such as the Beethoven sonata in 1944.
Lots of composers wrote works for him, such as Paul Hindemith, Gordon Jacob, and most importantly, Benjamin Britten, who wrote the serenade for horn, tenor and strings for Dennis Brain.
He was the principal horn of many orchestras, including the National Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Philharmonia Orchestra.
In total, over his career he made over 120 solo recordings as a professional.
On September 1st, 1957, Dennis Brain died in a car crash.
He is now regarded as one of the best horn players there has ever been.
