Johannes Brahms
Piano Concerto 1
in D Minor, Op. 15
This gigantic and powerful work drew its sad inspiration from the attempted suicide of Brahms' friend Robert Schumann. The music veers between cataclysmic outbursts and soothing, dreamlike passages, until the finale emerges confidently into the sunlight.
Year: 1859
Period: Early Romantic
Piano score: Scanned score 
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A Symphonic Concerto
The First Piano Concerto reflects Brahms's effort to combine piano with orchestra as equal partners, building on Beethoven and Mozart's achievements in the genre, rather than on earlier Romantic concertos, where the orchestra has a more accompanying function. The tragic inspiration behind the work might have been the breakdown of Schumann, an event which caused great pain for Brahms, who considered Schumann a great friend and benefactor. Consequently, this is certainly no show-piece, but an extremely serious work, alternately ominous and tender.
Originally, it was composed as a sonata for two pianos. The sonata then became a symphony, with some help in orchestration from his friend Julius Otto Grimm, and then reached its final metamorphosis as the Piano Concerto Op. 15.
Forum posts about this piece:
Brahms Concerto no. 1 - best edition? by justapianist
This is my first time posting on here; excuse any mistakes. I have been having trouble finding an urtext edition of Brahms's First Piano Concerto. I have found one by Breitkopf & Hartel. Do you...
Brahms concerto 1, op 15. sheet music edition? by cchamp27
Hi guys, I'm looking for the sheet music to Brahms 1, but I'm having difficulty. The sheet music warehouse near me didn't have Brahms 1 ont he Henle catalogue, and when I searched...
Brahms op 15, last movement by extroitus
I'm puzzled by the notation in the following bars. The cantabile is in straight eights, while the lower part of the right hand is in triplets. However, at some points the two voices coincide. My question...
octave trills - brahms concerto 1 by mamapia
hi could anyone out there who has played/practiced the 1st brahms concerto give me some helpful tips on how to practice those octave trills...?...
brahms piano concerto no. 1 1st movement by rapmasterb
Hi, I'm learning the above piece and its going great (Its for a 2-piano performance in a competition). However I'm worried on two counts: 1. I've been working for months on the...
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Johannes Brahms, who was one of the prominent composers active in the Early Romantic era, wrote this piece titled "Piano Concerto 1"Op. 15 in D Minor from Concertos. The composition is categorized as "Concerto" in the sheet music library and the level of difficulty in the piano music database is 8+.