Johannes Brahms
In 1870, Brahms became director of a concert series called Vienna Gesellschaftskonzerte. He became more and more famous as a composer, but he was never very good at conducting, and in 1875 a conductor called Hans Richter took over conducting the concerts. During these years he finished one of his greatest works: Ein deutsches Requiem (A German Requiem), as well as one of his most popular works: the Variations on the St Anthony chorale (sometimes wrongly known as Variations on a Theme by Haydn).