Brahms: Paganini Variations op. 35 Piano SoloIn the 19th century, Nicol Paganini was the embodiment of the virtuoso. Many composers used his musical themes for their own creative work. Johannes Brahms likewise did not hesitate to use a work by Paganini the violin virtuoso as the basis for a composition for his own instrument, the piano, using the Capriccio no. 24 in a minor from Paganinis op. 1 as his model. Brahms initially viewed the Variations, composed in 1862 63, merely as a finger exercise