<P> During the course of composition, the work passed through different forms . In 1854 it began as a sonata for two pianos . By July 27 of that year it was being transformed into a four - movement symphony . 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 then sent the orchestrated first movement to Joachim . Evidently Joachim liked it . Brahms wrote to him 12 September 1854 "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 ." By January 1855 Brahms had composed second and third movements, for piano . He ultimately decided to make the work a concerto for piano, his favored instrument, in 1855--56, still consulting friends about the 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 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 Gál called "calm and dreamlike", and a third movement rondo, in which Gál heard "healthy, exuberant creativity". The result was a work in the more usual three - movement concerto structure . As late as early February 1858, Joachim sent the manuscript back to Brahms "completely revised", hoping that he liked the reorchestrated sections . Brahms did not complete his Symphony No. 1 until 1876 . </P> <P> Rieter - Biedermann, publisher of the Concerto, requested in 1862 that Brahms write a piano four - hands arrangement . Brahms declined, saying it would not be "practical" for him . But in 1864 he did compose such an arrangement, as he needed the money he would get for it . On 1 October 1856 Clara wrote in her diary that Brahms had "composed an excellent first movement" for a piano concerto (he had evidently sent her a score). She further wrote "I am delighted with its greatness of conception and the tenderness of its melodies ." Then on 18 October, "Johannes has finished his concerto - we have played it several times on two pianos ." </P> <P> 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 ." The concerto was first performed on January 22, 1859, in Hanover, Germany, when Brahms was just 25 years old . The audience received it coldly . 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 outstanding violin concerto . It seems that after Mendelssohn's passing, "standards in Leipzig declined". Still, the Gewandhaus remained a highly prestigious orchestra . Its concertmaster, Ferdinand David, had invited Brahms to have his concerto performed there . 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 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 wrote to Joachim "I am only experimenting and feeling my way," adding sadly, "all the same, the hissing was rather too much ." </P> <P> 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". </P>

Johannes brahms piano concerto no 1 in d minor