Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist and conductor of the Romantic period. Brahms composed for orchestra, chamber ensembles, piano, organ, voice and chorus. His music is rooted in the structures and compositional techniques of the Classical masters. Sonata no. 1 in E Minor, op. 38 was originally written for solo cello and piano. This sonata is an homage to J.S. Bach with the principal theme of the first movement and the fugue in the last movement being based on Contrapunctus 4 and 13 of The Art of Fugue.