Part I · Stages of creative development and reception
1 Brahms the Hamburg musician 1833–1862 Kurt Hofmann
2 Years of transition: Brahms and Vienna 1862–1875 Michael Musgrave
3 Brahms and his audience: the later Viennese years 1875–1897 Leon Botstein
Part II · The music: genre, structure and reference
4 Opposition and integration in the piano music John Rink
5 Medium and meaning: new aspects of the chamber music David Brodbeck
6 Formal perspectives on the symphonies Kofi Agawu
7 ‘Veiled symphonies’? The concertos Malcolm MacDonald
8 The scope and significance of the choral music Daniel Beller-McKenna
9 Words for music: the songs for solo voice and piano Michael Musgrave
Part III · Brahms today: some personal responses
10 Conducting Brahms Roger Norrington with Michael Musgrave
11 The editor’s Brahms Robert Pascall
12 A photograph of Brahms Hugh Wood