This concerto was conceived as early as 1830 when Liszt was still in his teens. Like many of his orchestral works, it was subjected to a lengthy process of revision in many stages. It was essentially completed in 1849, in an early form with the title (borrowed from Litolff) Concerto Symphonique, but was again revised in 1853. By this time Liszt had virtually given up playing the piano professionally, only making occasional appearances at Weimar Court concerts or charity concerts elsewhere. He never played any of his later works for piano and orchestra in public; though he did occasionally perform this one, and its first performance took place in Weimar in February 1855 with the composer as soloist and Berlioz conducting. Further minor revisions followed before publication at the end of 1856. The work aroused some critical hostility due to its prominent triangle part in the scherzo section; but we may assume this very iconoclasm contributed greatly to Berlioz's enjoyment.

sources

A  Autograph full score (by 1849; often sketchy), in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Weimar

B  Copyist's manuscript, copied from A, with autograph revisions, also in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Weimar

C1  Copyist's manuscript, copied from B, with further autograph revisions, in the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.

C2  Copyist's manuscript, copied from C1, with further autograph revisions, in the Morgan Library, New York

D  Copyist's manuscript, Stichvorlage for E, copied from C2, with further autograph revisions, in the Goethe- und Schiller-Archiv, Weimar

E  First edition of full score, published by Carl Haslinger in 1856

EE1  Miniature score (c.1910), published by Ernst Eulenburg, Leipzig

Br  Full score, edited by Bernhard Stavenhagen (a pupil of Liszt) and published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1914

EE2  Reprint of EE1 (c.1950) with foreword by Max Alberti and bar numbers added

Ur  Urtext edition, edited by Ferenc Rados, published by Editio Budapest in 1992