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Dennis Brain dies instantly at 6am on Sunday 1 September, when his Triumph TR2 sports car leaves the road in wet weather, close to the de Havilland aircraft factory at Hatfield in Hertfordshire. Brain had driven through the night after playing first horn with the Philharmonia Orchestra<\/strong><\/a> at the Edinburgh Festival. His wife, Yvonne, and their three children were waiting for him at their Hampstead home.<\/p> Why start this story at its tragic end? Because the newspaper reaction to the event gave a measure of the extraordinary stature that Brain had gained by the age of just 36. He had got to this point through his playing of an instrument rarely associated (at the time) with anything near virtuosity, let alone his particular brand of astonishing musicianship.<\/p> Brain was variously described as a \u2018prodigy\u2019, \u2018world-famous\u2019, \u2018incomparable\u2019 and a \u2018priceless talent\u2019. Brain\u2019s obituary in The Times<\/em> recalled that \u2018\u2026no technical difficulties appeared to cause him the slightest apprehension.\u2019<\/p> ‘He was the master’<\/h2>