had already made his own, revealed no more upward stages of his achievement until he at length stood victoriously before the world on its summit. The variations were performed for the second time on December 10 under Levi in Munich. The Gesellschaft season opened under Brahms' direction on November 9, with Beethoven's Overture, Op. 115, and Handel's 'Alexander's Feast.' A varied programme was given at the second concert of December 7: 1. Schubert: Overture to Fierrebras. 2. Schubert: Aria for Tenor (written in 1821 for introduction into Herold's Opera 'Zauberglöcken' at the Kärnthnerthor Theater, Vienna; unpublished). Herr Gustav Walter. 3. Volkmann: Concertstück for Pianoforte and Orchestra. Pianoforte, Herr Smetansky. 4. (_a_) Joh. Rud. Ahle (1662)} Unaccompanied Choruses. (_b_) J. S. Bach } 5. Bach: Cantata, 'Nun ist das Heil,' for double Chorus, Orchestra and Organ. 6. Jac. Gallus: Unaccompanied Chorus, 'Ecce Quomodo.' 7. Beethoven: Choral Fantasia for Pianoforte (Smetansky), Orchestra, and Chorus. The publications of the year, all issued in the autumn, were, in addition to the String Quartets, the version for two Pianofortes of the Haydn Variations (Op. 56_b_), by Simrock, and a set of eight Songs (Op. 59), by Rieter-Biedermann. Of these, four are set to texts by Claus Groth, which include 'Rain-songs' and the lovely 'Dein blaues Auge hält so still.' The Variations for Orchestra were published by Simrock in 1874. Brahms was at this time quite immersed in his various kinds of work. 'I am so enormously occupied that I see my best friends only very rarely and by accident,' he wrote in December to the present author. It had now become his custom to decline invitations for the Christmas festival, and to spend it, partly at the open-air Christmas market, where he made himself happy by purchasing gifts for the poor children whom he found crowding round the tempting wares, and partly at home, where he would look in for half an hour at the family party gathered in front of his landlady's Christmas-tree; no doubt contributing his share to the surprises of Christmas Eve, the 'sacred evening' when, throughout the length and breadth of Germany and Austria, innumerable trees are lighted up at about the same hour, and the great exchange takes place of presents to which, in many cases, the preparation and savings of a year have been consecrated. A New Year's present of a special kind received by Brahms this winter was the Maximilian Order for Art and Science conferred on him by King Ludwig II. of Bavaria.