I. Maestoso
II. Adagio
III. Rondo: allegro non troppo
This concerto was played for the first time at Hanover, on January 22,
1859. Brahms was the pianist; Joachim conducted.
Brahms, living in Hanover in 1854, worked in the spring and summer on a
symphony. The madness of Schumann and his attempt to commit suicide by
throwing himself into the Rhine had deeply affected him. He wrote to
Joachim in January, 1855, from Düsseldorf, “I have been trying my hand
at a symphony during the past summer, have even orchestrated the first
movement and composed the second and third.”
This symphony was never completed. The work as it stood was turned into
a sonata for two pianofortes. The first two movements became later the
first and the second of the Pianoforte concerto in D minor; the third is
the movement “Behold all flesh” in _A German_ _Requiem_. The sonata for
two pianofortes was frequently played in private in the middle ’fifties
by Brahms with Clara Schumann, or his friend Julius Otto Grimm, who had
assisted him in the orchestration of the symphony. Grimm (1827-1903),
philologist, conductor, lecturer, doctor of philosophy, composer of a
symphony, suites and other works, declared that the musical contents of
this sonata deserved a more dignified form, and persuaded Brahms to put
them into a concerto. The task busied Brahms for two years or more. The
movements were repeatedly sent to Joachim, whose advice was of much
assistance. In 1858 the _Signale_ reported that Brahms had arrived in
Detmold, and it was hoped that some of his compositions might be
performed there. “He has completed, among other things, a pianoforte
concerto, the great beauties of which have been reported to us.” The
musicians at Detmold were not inclined to appreciate Brahms; it is said
that the _Kapellmeister_, Kiel, was prejudiced against him; but the
concerto was rehearsed at Hanover, and Joachim, in spite of a certain
amount of official opposition, put it on the programme of the Hanover
Subscription Court Concerts, the third of the series for 1858-59.
The concerto was then coldly received. The Hanover correspondent of the
_Signale_ wrote, “The work had no great success with the public, but it
aroused the decided respect and sympathy of the best musicians for the
gifted artist.” Brahms played the concerto at a Gewandhaus concert in
Leipsic on January 27, 1859. The public and the critics were unfriendly.
The composer wrote to Joachim: “A brilliant and decided failure.... In
spite of all this, the concerto will please some day when I have
improved its construction.” Breitkopf & Härtel refused to publish it;
but Rieter-Biedermann gave it to the world in 1861.