May I say at once that what I have ventured to call “my thoughts” upon Brahms, are not intended to be dogmatic, I do not presume to press with undue force any opinion of my own in regard to the position which Brahms does, or should, occupy among the great masters of music. With his high ideals of art and his lofty conceptions of duty in regard to it, he is assuredly the one composer who irresistibly commands our attention at the present time, and it is upon this fact that I rest the hope that I may ask you to spend a few minutes this evening in considering the question Why is there still some hesitancy to place him among the greatest composers ?