Piano Concerto no. 1 in D minor, op. 15

The First Piano Concerto began in 1854 as a sonata for two pianos, grew into a projected symphony in D minor, and reached its final three-movement form only in 1858. The intervening years are those of Robert Schumann's collapse and death and of Brahms's attachment to Clara Schumann. A discarded sketch from the symphonic stage was later reused in the German Requiem. Joachim conducted a trial run in Hanover nine months before the premiere; the Leipzig performance in January 1859 was a public failure, and the concerto took decades to establish itself.