Concerto No. 1 in A minor op. 33

No. 1 for Violoncello and Orchestra in A minor, op. 33, was composed in 1872 and dedicated to the cellist, conductor and instrument maker Auguste Tolbecque (1830-1919); since then, it has been one of the most popular works of its genre among cellists and the public. It was written at a very difficult time for the author: despite his unstable health, he had served as a soldier in the Prussian-French War, and in January his great-aunt Charlotte Masson, who had been a second mother and his first piano teacher, had died.

The concerto is composed without breaks in the movements, but has clear traits of the traditional form, which it handles very freely and puts together in a new way.