Answer:
1.
Johannes Brahms was born on May 7th 1833 in Hamburg, Germany.
Brahms began composing when he was just 11. However, when he was older, he found them a bit embarrassing and destroyed the majority of them.
Robert Schumann was so impressed with Brahms' talent when they met that he was inspired to write an essay entitled 'Neue Bahnen' ('New Paths') which gave Brahms a lot of publicity.
2.
the University of Breslau had anticipated that Brahms, one of the greatest living composers (albeit one who had not attended college), would write a suitable new work to be played at the award ceremony.
Festouvertüre, overture composed by Johannes Brahms on the occasion of his receiving an honorary doctorate of music from the University of Breslau (now the University of Wrocław in Wrocław, Poland). The work was composed in 1880 and first performed on January 4, 1881.
