The Symphony No. 1 in D major is a symphony by Gustav Mahler first composed between 1884 and 1888. The initial premiere was in Budapest in 1889 under the title "Symphonische Dichtung in zwei Teilen" (symphonic poem in two parts), but was subsequently reworked into a tone poem called Titan (after a novel by Jean Paul). Under this title, the work was first performed in 1893 in Hamburg.
Jean Sibelius's Symphony No. 1 in E minor, Opus 39 was written in 1898 when Sibelius was 33. It was given its first performance on 26 April 1899 by the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer himself, in an original version which has not survived. After the premiere Sibelius made some revisions, resulting in the version which is performed today.
The Symphony No. 1 in F Minor (Opus 10) by Dmitri Shostakovich was written between 1924 and 1925, and first performed in Leningrad by the Leningrad Philharmonic under Nikolai Malko on 12 May 1926. He wrote the work as his graduation piece at the Leningrad Conservatory, completing it at the age of 19.
The Symphony No. 1 in E flat major, KV. 16, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of just eight years. By this time he was already notable in Europe as a wunderkind performer, but had composed little music.
Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 1 in C Major (Op. 21) was written in 1799–1800. The symphony premiered April 2, 1800 at the K.K. Hoftheater nächst der Burg in Vienna, and is dedicated to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an early patron of the composer.
The Symphony No. 1 in D minor (also known as "The Gothic") by Havergal Brian (1876 – 1972) was composed between 1919 and 1927, and partly owes its notoriety to being the largest symphony ever composed (described thus by the Guinness Book of Records). Along with choral symphonies such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or Mahler's Symphony of a Thousand, it is one of a few works attempting to use the musically gigantic to address the spiritual concerns of humanity.
Sergei Prokofiev wrote his Symphony No. 1 in D major in 1917. It is also widely known as the Classical Symphony.
The Symphony No. 1 in A flat major, Op. 55 of Edward Elgar is the first of only two that he composed. He wrote it in 1907–1908, dedicating it on the title page to "Hans Richter, Mus. Doc., true artist and true friend."
The Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, by Johannes Brahms was first performed on November 4 1876 in Karlsruhe. The premiere was given by Felix Otto Dessoff, a conductor and friend of the composer's. It took the composer 14 years to complete, the first sketches dating from 1862.
Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 1 in C minor was the first symphony the composer thought worthy of performing, and bequeathing to the Vienna national library. Chronologically, it comes after the Study Symphony in F minor and before Symphony No. 0 in D minor.
Sergei Rachmaninoff's First Symphony in D minor, Op. 13, premiered in 1897 under the baton of Alexander Glazunov. Rachmaninoff commenced work on the symphony in 1893 and was initially very happy with his work. The symphony's premiere was an absolute flop; Rachmaninoff left in agony before the performance was finished.
The Symphony No. 1 in D minor is a good example of how Charles Ives learned from composers before him. Many of his later symphonies relied on Protestant hymns as the main theme. However, this symphony is composed in the late-Romantic European tradition, and is believed to contain many paraphrases from famous European pieces such as Tchaikovsky's Pathétique and Schubert's Unfinished symphonies and especially Dvořák's New World Symphony.
Symphony No. 1 in B flat major, op. 38 ("Spring") was the first symphonic work composed by Robert Schumann. Although Schumann made some "symphonic attempts" in the fall of 1840, soon after he married his beloved Clara Wieck, he did not compose the symphony until early 1841. Schumann sketched the symphony in four days from January 23 to January 26 and completed the orchestration within a month by February 20.
Hans Werner Henze's Symphony no. 1 was premiered in Darmstadt in 1947. The premiere was hit by Henze’s accustomed bad luck. The orchestral parts, handwritten by the composer himself, had become illegible during photocopying in Schott’s offices and despite the young composer’s best efforts to ink in the parts throughout the night, only the slow movement was performed.
Symphony No. 1, Op. 13 vividly reflects composer George Enescu's training in Vienna, where he studied with Robert Fuchs and mastered the Brahmsian tradition in composition. At the same time, however, this work reveals the enormous French influence on Enescu that took hold when he studied in the 1890s with Massenet and Fauré. In 1905, when the Symphony No. 1 in E♠was written, Enescu was already well established as a violinist and some of his first pieces, including the Symphonie concertante for cello and orchestra, Op. 8, had already appeared.
Tchaikovsky's first symphony (Op. 13 in G minor) is also known as "Winter Daydreams".
The Symphony No. 1 of Douglas Lilburn was completed in 1949, and had its premiere in 1951. The symphony is in three integrated movements; a typical performance lasts around 30 minutes.
The Symphony No. 1 in B flat minor by the English composer William Walton was commissioned by Hamilton Harty, and completed in 1935. The first complete performance was given by Harty and the BBC Symphony Orchestra on the 6 November of that year, although a performance of the first three movements had been given the previous December by Harty with the London Symphony Orchestra, whilst Walton struggled with the composition of the finale.
Alexander Scriabin's Symphony No. 1 (opus 24) in E major. This piece was written from 1899 to 1900.