Knowra Brahms piano concertos Brahms piano concertos Brahms’s two piano concertos are large-scale works for solo piano and orchestra, composed in 1858 and 1881. They combine symphonic breadth with demanding solo writing.
Piano Concerto No. 1 (Brahms) : Brahms’s D minor concerto for piano and orchestra, Op. 15, completed in 1858. Its stormy, three-movement design grew from Brahms’s early plans for a symphony.
Double exposition : A concerto-form practice in which the orchestra and soloist each present an exposition of the main themes. Both concertos use the orchestra’s opening statement to frame the soloist’s entrance.
Johannes Brahms : A German composer and pianist of the Romantic era, born in 1833 and died in 1897. His changing career connects the youthful First Concerto to the mature Second.
Eduard Marxsen : A German pianist and composer who taught Brahms in Hamburg. Marxsen’s piano teaching formed part of Brahms’s early musical training.
Symphony : A large-scale orchestral work, usually organized into multiple movements. Brahms’s concertos bring symphonic scale and development into a solo concerto.
Piano Concerto No. 2 (Brahms) : Brahms’s B-flat major concerto for piano and orchestra, Op. 83, completed in 1881. Its four movements and integrated solo writing make it markedly different from the First.
Sonata form : A musical form organized around thematic exposition, development, and recapitulation. The concertos’ opening movements adapt this structure to soloist and orchestra.
Robert Schumann : A German composer and music critic whose 1853 essay praised the young Brahms. Schumann’s encouragement helped establish Brahms’s public standing before the First Concerto.
Otto Dessoff : An Austrian conductor and composer who led the premiere of Brahms’s First Concerto in Hanover. He conducted the concerto’s first performance in 1859.
Romantic music : European art music of the nineteenth century, often marked by expressive intensity and expanded forms. The concertos exemplify Romantic expansion of the concerto’s scale and emotional range.
Show all 26