Family Tradition
Dennis Brain was born in London to a family already well known for producing fine horn players.
His grandfather, Alfred Edwin Brain Sr. (4 February 1860 – 25 October 1925), was considered one of the top horn soloists of his time.
His uncle, Alfred Edwin Brain Jr. (24 October 1885 – 29 March 1966), had a successful career playing horn in the United States with the New York Symphony Society and later as a soloist in Hollywood.
His father, Aubrey Brain (12 July 1893 – 21 September 1955), held the principal horn position in the BBC Symphony Orchestra and was also a teacher. Aubrey Brain produced the first Mozart horn concerto recording in 1927.
His mother, Marion Brain, was a composer and wrote cadenzas to the first and third Mozart horn concerti which her husband then performed.
His brother, Leonard Brain, (1915–1975), was an oboist and performed with Dennis in a wind quintet that Dennis formed. Tina Brain, one of Leonard's children (Dennis' niece), also became a professional horn player.
Brain married Yvonne Brain (born Yvonne Coles) and had two children: Anthony Paul Brain and Sally Brain. Sally Brain's child Thomas Prower, Dennis Brain's grandson, is an excellent flautist and pianist.
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“It is turning three hundred years
On our cisatlantic shore
For family after family name.
We’ll make it three hundred more”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“But, with whatever exception, it is still true that tradition characterizes the preaching of this country; that it comes out of the memory, and not out of the soul; that it aims at what is usual, and not at what is necessary and eternal; that thus historical Christianity destroys the power of preaching, by withdrawing it from the exploration of the moral nature of man; where the sublime is, where are the resources of astonishment and power.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)