The first three chapters examine the roots of Brahms's obsession with the symphony and consider the difficulties the genre presented to him. Subsequent chapters elaborate an aesthetic justification for Brahms's musical "borrowings," detail the ways in which his variational technique is deployed in a symphonic context seemingly at odds with that technique, and discuss organic unity in the context of German nationalism and musical meaning. The final chapter considers the reception of Brahms's symphonies and the difficulties they presented to later composers. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.