Composed in the late summer of 1876, Dvoraks first effort at a full-blown concerto shows signs of an unusual amount of revision in the composers hand - especially for the solo piano part. This might explain the delay in the concertos premiere, which was given at the Provisional Theatre in Prague on March 24, 1878 with Karel Slavkovsky as soloist accompanied by the Provisional Theatre Orchestra under the baton of Adolf Cech. The composer himself wrote: "I see I am unable to write a Concerto for a virtuoso; I must think of other things."

The ungainly solo part no doubt also played a role in...