Johannes Brahms undoubtedly saw himself reflected, to a certain extent, in the erudite mixture of classicism and innovation that characterized the works of the young Ferruccio Busoni. In fact, he promised to "do for Busoni what Schumann did for me," namely, recommending Busoni's work to persons of influence (such as the famous music critic E. Hanslick, an early supporter) and bringing attention to the young composer's talent. It thus was in a spirit of personal gratitude, as well as artistic admiration, that Busoni listed Brahms as the dedicatee of his Etudes (6) for piano, Op. 16, from 1883. (A subsequent, single etude, the Op. 17, also bears a dedication to Brahms.) The etudes are arranged in a traditional manner, paired according to key and mode: C major with its relative minor A, G major followed by E minor, and D major paired with the final etude in B minor. The group covers a broad range of styles, characters, and techniques, as well. The first etude, marked Allegro deciso, is pianistically flashy, characterized by the dotted-rhythm flourish of its main chordal gesture and the quick, chromatic, ascending runs leading up to important points of articulation. The pomp of the first etude is contrasted by the agility of the second (Allegro moderato), its layers nimble counterpoint parsed into moving lines and repeated, bell-like tones. The middle section, however, recalls the major mode and dotted rhythms of its predecessor. The simple melody of the third etude, marked Moderato, is carried along by a lilting 9/8 meter and the steady motion of repeated and neighbor-motion chords, though the tranquil surface is rippled in the end by a curious chromatic epilogue in the bass. The fourth etude is the most dramatic, as suggested by the indication Allegro vivace assai, e con fuoco. Its introduction is impulsive and improvisatory sounding, giving way to a mysterious texture dominated by an unsettling rising and falling chromatic line in the bass. The fifth etude, marked Allegro giusto, is a tightly crafted fugue with feigned Baroque contours that are upturned when the fugue subject appears, somewhat audaciously and with considerable technical difficulty, in single-hand octaves. If the fugue is the most finely crafted of the etudes, the sixth (Vivacissimo energico, feroce) is the most clever: a mock-heroic Scherzo characterized by overdone bravado, calculated chromatic clumsiness, and incessantly repetitive fanfare.

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