Rhapsody in B minorOp. 79, No. 1

The first of Brahms's two Rhapsodies, Op. 79, published in 1880 and dedicated to Elisabeth von Herzogenberg. In this stormy rhapsody, both hands drive across the keyboard in heavy octaves and rolled chords propelled by urgent triplet figures. Brahms originally called the pair piano pieces and only reluctantly renamed them rhapsodies at the suggestion of their dedicatee.