Brahms at the center of a complex web of relationships: the Turkish-German duo traces not only his Hungarian connections, but also his influence on fellow Czech Antonín Dvořák, whom Brahms referred to his own publisher Fritz Simrock - whereupon the latter ordered the popular "Slavonic Dances," modeled on the famous "Hungarian Dances." Brahms reveals himself as a follower and admirer of Robert Schumann in 1861 in the Variations op. 23, in which he takes up the moving theme of the older colleague's "Ghost Variations," still unpublished at the time.