beethoven blows him out of the water . off the top of my head , beethoven 3 has two fugues in the fourth movement , beethoven 8 has at least one the one loosely based on the ode to joy . and i think there is another , and beethoven 9 has IMO one of the best fugues ever written just before the return of the Ode theme . Those are the ones I can remember off the top of my head . and if I listened , there are surely others in the symphonies . Further Hammerklavier mvmt 4 Grosse Fugue Missa Solemnis gloria and credoBrahms was a far better Melodist and IMO orchestrator , and perhaps used the form here and there , but not nearly as frequently and prominently as beethoven , nor , likely , as effectively . I can ' t off the top of my head recall any in his four symphonies . though perhaps that is just my own failing . He clearly has some stand alone works . but I just don ' t see the variety and depth relative to beethoven ' s writings for the full orchestra .