In this analytical study of eighteen important works by Brahms, Walter Frisch makes skillful use of Schoenberg's provocative concept of "developing variation." Frisch traces a genuine evolution through Brahms's compositions; he considers their relationship not only to each other, but also to significant works by Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Liszt, and Schoenberg.

Walter Frisch is Associate Professor of Music at Columbia University and is Consulting Editor for 19th-Century Music.

"This helpful, erudite and fluent book is indeed on an important topic. . . . Frisch finds room in his analysis for imaginative biographical and documentary insights."—Robert Pascall, Times Literary Supplement

"Only rarely does a book come along which has much to offer both to the academic specialist in music and to the musically literate readership at large. . . . Walter Frisch's book is a work of the sort just described. . . . It should stimulate and enrich thinking about Brahms, Schoenberg, and the motivic dimension of tonal music."—William Rothstein, Journal of Music Theory

"The topic of this book needed to be aired. . . . With scholastic and historical flair, the author provides documentation and a dash of conceptual support for an intriguing inquiry."—Jonathan Dunsby, Music and Letters

Winner of the 1985 ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award