Brahms and the Shaping of Time brings together essays by leading music scholars, each of which analyzes the music of Brahms with a particular focus on the music's temporality. The volume's nine chapters are grouped thematically into an aksak rhythm of 2+2+2+3: three topical pairs of essays precede a trio of essays sharing a more covert affiliation. The first pair examines aspects of rhythm and meter in Brahms's lieder. The second pair of essays in this book pick up the mantle from William Rothstein's landmark text Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music. Rothstein's study focused on the music of other composers, but suggested how a future study might explore the music of Brahms; these essays contribute to such a study while also pivoting the book's focus from vocal to instrumental music. Each of the chapters of the third pair cross examine and expand our understanding of the hemiola. Finally, the concluding trio of essays continues the focus on the analysis of temporal aspects of individual works, promoting ways of hearing that encourage the reader to breach the confines of the score's metric notation. Together, the essays in this volume combine fresh approaches to the life and music of the beloved nineteenth-century composer with the latest and most significant ways of thinking about rhythm, meter, and musical time.