The development of art, according to Pasternak, obeys the law of attraction. One of the various examples is the idea of the cross-cutting development cycle by Beethoven; none of the later composers from Chopin (Sonata b flat minor) to Bruckner and Mahler passed by this idea. Brahms occupies a significant place in this process. One can discover a variety of embodiments of the idea in this article on the example of six chamber and instrumental ensembles of the composer, different by number of instruments and time of writing: piano trios op. 8 (2nd version) and op. 40, string quartets op. 51 and op. 67, Clarinet Quintet op. 115. In one case, the interaction of keys—parallel and relative ones—is the centerpiece of the formation of the cross-cutting cycle structure. In another case, the point is the interaction of metre-rhythms. And finally, the impulse to the building of the cross-cutting cycle composition can come from a concise theme endowed with the function of the epigraph. To paraphrase an idea of Asafiev, it can be stated that the idea is the same, but the forms of embodiments are multiple.