Johannes Brahms

Symphony No. 1 c minor Op. 68

Brahms struggled for years with composition of his First Symphony -- the feeling of impotence in the face of Beethoven's works seemed overwhelming. He wrote to his friend, the conductor Hermann Levi: 'I will never compose a symphony! You have no idea how the likes of me feels when he always hears such a giant (Beethoven) marching behind him.' But in October 1876 Brahms finally did complete it, and the first - acclaimed - performances of his First Symphony immediately took place in Karlsruhe, Mannheim, Munich, and Vienna. We herewith offer the score of this work, published within the framework of our New Collected Edition, as a convenient study score. In his preface to this Urtext edition in small format, our editor - Brahms expert Robert Pascall - presents interesting information about the work's genesis and publishing history.