Thomas Mann's early Erz hlungen and Buddenbrooks contain many leitmotivs: death, spring, the walnut-tree, the violin, the sea and the 'Liebestod' motif adopted from Act III of Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. A complete index is neither possible nor practicable in a work of this size which charts the use and non-use of the leitmotiv in all Mann's Erz hlungen up until 1930, engages analytically with some previous research, examines possible literary influences, specific leitmotivs in the Erz hlungen and Mann's use of mythical leitmotivs.