Throughout his lifetime, Brahms accompanied dozens of singers in a variety of settings, ranging from huge public halls to his friends’ homes, and conducted many others in choirs. Some of those working relationships were one-offs, arising from the widespread practice of including a set of piano-accompanied songs within most concerts and the expediency and cost-effectiveness of using local talent. Others were deep, enduring partnerships; the timbres and interpretative approaches of those singers are surely ingrained in his vocal music. Overall, Brahms’s singers were generally not part of the international operatic elite associated with Verdi, Bizet and Massenet. Figures like Julius Stockhausen (1826–1906) and Raimund von Zur-Mühlen (1854–1931)were almost exclusively concert singers and, later on, teachers. Most hailed from German-speaking territories, reflecting Brahms’s own concert career.

Throughout his career, Brahms forged significant professional and personal relationships with a variety of instrumentalists, ranging from talented amateurs to highly accomplished professionals. The violinist Joseph Joachim (1831–1907), cellist Robert Hausmann (1852–1909) and clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld (1856–1907) numbered among Brahms’s closest friends. Through their performances and interactions, these men inspired the composer and gave him concrete advice about writing idiomatically for their respective instruments. Because many of their exchanges took place while making music at the homes of friends, we will never know the full extent of the impact that they had on Brahms. Nevertheless, letters, diaries, personal recollections of friends and the few remaining manuscripts revealing Brahms’s creative process, all provide us with a window into the multifaceted nature of their influence.