The Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15, is a work for piano and orchestra completed by Johannes Brahms in 1858. The composer gave the work's public debut in Hanover, the following year. It was his first-performed orchestral work, and (in its third performance) his first orchestral work performed to audience approval.

Form

This concerto is written in the traditional three movements and is approximately 40 to 50 minutes long.

The first movement is in sonata form, divided into five sections: orchestral introduction, exposition, development, recapitulation, and coda. This movement is large, lasting between 20 and 25 minutes. Although without a cadenza, the strict adherence to forms used in the Classical Period earned Brahms a reputation for being musically "conservative" despite his innovative harmonies and chord progressions. The theme heavily makes use of arpeggiated chords and trills. Within the orchestral introduction other themes are introduced, and the thematic material is further developed by both orchestra and soloist.

The second movement is in a ternary form, with the theme in the violins accompanied by bassoons.

The structure of the rondo finale is similar to that of the rondo of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3. There are three themes present in this rondo; the second theme may be considered a strong variation of the first. The third theme is introduced in the episode but is never explicitly developed by the soloist, instead the soloist is "integrated into the orchestral effect". A cadenza follows the bulk of the rondo with an extensive coda that develops the first and third themes appearing afterward. The coda is in the parallel major, D major.

Instrumentation The piece is scored for 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets (B and A), 2 bassoons, 4 horns (initially 2 in D, 2 in B bass), 2 trumpets (D), timpani (D and A), piano, and strings.

Overview

Roles of Joachim and Clara Schumann Brahms was himself a professional-level pianist who had first highly impressed the leading violinist Joseph Joachim, who gave him a letter of introduction to Robert Schumann. Brahms and Joachim became close friends for life. In 1853 Brahms had aroused the greatest admiration from Robert and his wife Clara Schumann, a turning point in Brahms's career, by playing for them some of his own solo piano pieces. Clara was a leading concert pianist and a composer. She and Brahms began a lifelong friendship, which became more important when Robert was committed to an asylum in 1854 and then died in 1856. Clara, 14 years older than Brahms, wrote of him in her diary in 1854 "I love him like a son."Litzmann, p. 94 Brahms's love of her (and her husband) was respectful, more complex and conflicted, but he much valued her opinions and advice.

Composition During the course of its composition, the work evolved through several different forms, and was heavily and repeatedly edited by Brahms. In 1854, the year Robert Schumann was admitted to the asylum, it had begun its life as a sonata for two pianos. By July 27 of that year it was being transformed into a four-movement symphony.Brahms and Avins, p. 50, note 44 Brahms sought advice from his close friend Julius Otto Grimm. "Brahms was in the habit of showing his orchestrations to Grimm, who, with his conservatory training, was better schooled in orchestration." After incorporating some of Grimm's suggestions, Brahms sent the orchestrated first movement to Joachim. Evidently Joachim liked it. Brahms wrote to him on 12 September 1854 that: "As usual, you've viewed my symphony movement through rose-coloured spectacles – I definitely want to change and improve it; there's still a great deal lacking in the composition, and I don't even understand as much of the orchestration as appears in the movement, since the best of it I owe to Grimm."Brahms and Avins, p. 61 By January 1855 Brahms had composed second and third movements, for piano.Brahms and Avins, p. 85 He ultimately decided to make the work a concerto for piano, his favored instrument, in 1855–56, all the while consulting friends about its orchestration. Avins writes that: "In all the many volumes of correspondence to and from Brahms, nothing quite approaches the letters he and Joachim exchanged over his First Piano Concerto (there are more than twenty of them) ... Joachim's answers, lengthy, detailed, thoughtful, and skilled, are extraordinary testimonials to his own talent, and to the awe and admiration he felt for his friend."Brahms and Avins, pp. 146–147 Brahms only retained the original material from the work's first movement; the remaining movements were discarded and two new ones were composed: a second movement adagio, which Brahms' biographer Hans Gál called "calm and dreamlike"; and a third movement rondo, in which Gál heard "healthy, exuberant creativity".Gál, pp. 114–117 The result was a work in the more usual three-movement concerto structure. As late as early February 1858, Joachim sent a manuscript back to Brahms "completely revised", hoping that he liked the reorchestrated sections.Brahms and Avins, p. 164

Piano duo versions Brahms also wrote a two-piano arrangement, which was essentially the original score before orchestration. In 1853 Robert Schumann had bought a grand piano for Clara so that the household had two.Litzmann, p. 39 In September 1856 Brahms sent Clara the first movement of his new piano concerto in a two-piano score. She wrote in her diary on 1 October 1856 that Brahms had "composed an excellent first movement" for a piano concerto, and "I am delighted with its greatness of conception and the tenderness of its melodies."Litzmann, p. 146 Then on 18 October, "Johannes has finished his concerto — we have played it several times on two pianos."Litzmann, p. 147

In 1862 Rieter-Biedermann, publisher of the Concerto, requested that Brahms write a piano four-hands arrangement. Publishers liked piano four-hands arrangements, which could be sold to customers owning only one piano. However, Brahms initially declined the request, saying it would not be "practical" for him;Brahms and Avins, p. 245 but two years later, for apparently mostly financial reasons, he made the arrangement.Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Major; The Composer's Original Arrangement for Piano Four Hands, by Brahms, reprint of 1864 editionBrahms and Avins, p. 288. Later, Brahms's Hungarian Dances for piano four-hands were highly profitable for him and his publisher Simrock.

Early performances Clara heard a rehearsal of the concerto in Hanover in March 1858, nine months before the premiere there, and wrote to a friend that it "went very well ... Almost all of it sounds beautiful, some parts far more beautiful even than Johannes himself imagined or expected."Litzmann, p. 159 The concerto was first performed on January 22, 1859, in Hanover, Germany, when Brahms was just 25 years old. The audience received it coldly.Brahms and Avins, p. 187 The second performance, five days later, was in Leipzig. The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was a leading one in Germany. It had premiered Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 ("Emperor") in 1811. Felix Mendelssohn conducted the Gewandhaus from 1835 until his death in 1847. During his tenure the orchestra premiered Schubert's Symphony No. 9 ("Great Symphony"), after Schubert's death; Robert Schumann had unearthed a manuscript in Vienna and given a copy to Mendelssohn. The orchestra also premiered Mendelssohn's own Symphony No. 3 ("Scottish") and violin concerto. It seems that after Mendelssohn's death, "standards in Leipzig declined".Campbell, Margaret (1981), The Great Violinists, Doubleday, Garden City, NY, p. 76 Still, the Gewandhaus remained a highly prestigious orchestra. Its concertmaster, Ferdinand David, had invited Brahms to have his concerto performed there.Brahms and Avins, p. 180 Brahms, who served as piano soloist, had two rehearsals in Leipzig with the orchestra. He thought he had played the concerto "significantly better than in Hanover, the orchestra outstandingly," but at the end of the performance only a few in the audience tried to clap and were soon overwhelmed by hissing. The concerto had only one encouraging review, from the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Robert Schumann's former journal; it was "savaged" by other critics.Brahms and Avins, p. 190 Brahms wrote to Joachim "I am only experimenting and feeling my way," adding sadly, "all the same, the hissing was rather too much."

The third performance was 24 March 1859 in a concert with the Hamburg Philharmonic at which Joachim and the leading baritone Julius Stockhausen also performed. The concert was a great success. Each of the three leading performers was recalled for more applause. Brahms wrote to Clara that Joachim [as concertmaster?] "rehearsed my concerto and played it marvelously well ... In short, the Leipzig reviews have done no damage" [in Hamburg]. Heller wrote a "highly commendatory review".

Brahms revised the concerto (much less extensively than before) and in August 1859 sent the revised manuscript to Clara, who replied that she had "hours of joy" from it.Litzmann, pp. 172–173. In September she wrote that the adagio is "exquisite" and "beautiful". She said the first movement "gave me great pleasure" although she did not like "some things in it"l which she had criticized before, but Brahms had not changed them. The fourth performance of the concerto (and first of the new revision) was again with the Hamburg Philharmonic conducted by and was not a success.Brahms and Avins, pp. 217, 222–223; Avins puts the fault on Otten.

Another performance came two years later, on 3 December 1861, again with the Hamburg Philharmonic, this time with Brahms conducting and Clara as solo pianist. She wrote in her diary "I was certainly the happiest person in the whole room ... the joy of the work so overcame me", but "the public understood nothing and felt nothing, otherwise it must have shown proper respect."Litzmann, pp. 200–201 By this point, the concerto had been performed in concert five times, over three years, but had been a success with only one of the audiences. Brahms and Clara both put it aside for some years. At around this time, on 3 March 1860, Brahms did see the successful premiere in Hanover of his First Serenade. Given that his first symphony would not appear until 1876, the serenade was his second orchestral piece to be played in concert; thankfully, the lighter serenade's reception by the audience in Hanover was wildly better than that which the concerto had received at its Hanoverian premiere the year before.

Publication In the summer of 1860 Brahms submitted to the publishers Breitkopf & Härtel five pieces: the concerto, his first serenade, two choral works, and "Eight Songs and Romances" (Op. 14). Only the serenade was accepted. The concerto was rejected based on its bad reception in Leipzig. No comment was made on the other three pieces.Brahms and Avins, p. 224 Brahms then submitted the four rejected pieces to a Swiss publisher, Melchior Rieter-Biedermann, who accepted them. Rieter-Biedermann later published many other Brahms pieces, including the German Requiem.

Later performances In November 1865 Brahms performed the concerto in Karlsruhe successfully, being "recalled" for more applause.Brahms and Avins, p. 335 A group of "friends of music", some of whom had missed the concert, engaged the orchestra players and organized a "private concert" on Sunday morning at which Brahms's Piano Quartet No. 2 was also performed. Brahms wrote to Clara that "The musicians were exceedingly devoted to me, so that the whole affair was most agreeable."Brahms and Avins, p. 337

The Viennese premiere of the concerto occurred on 22 January 1871 at the Wiener Musikverein, conducted by Felix Otto Dessoff.