Concerto in A minor op. 102

solos: vl.vc – 2.2.2.2. – 4.2.0.0. – timp – str

The Double Concerto in A minor op. 102 is Brahms' last work for orchestra. He wrote it in Thun in summer 1887 at the suggestion of the cellist Robert Hausmann, to whom Brahms had also dedicated his Cello Sonata No. 2 op. 99; it was completed just before op. 102.

The first performance took place in Cologne's Gürzenich Hall on 18 October 1887 under the direction of the composer. Parallel to his work on the orchestral score, he wrote the piano version and felt quite comfortable with it, as he confessed to Joachim in October 1887: “How much more agreeable and intelligent it is to write for an instrument you know through and through – the way I feel I know the piano!"