The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, by Antonín Dvořák was the composer's last solo concerto, and was written in 1894–1895 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan. Throughout the piece, a motif which resembles American folk music reoccurs. It was suggested that Dvořák was heavily influenced by the music of native Americans and that he used his inspiration in the Cello Concert



Brahms spent at least fourteen years completing the Symphony No. 1, whose sketches date from 1854. He himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876. Brahms began composing his first symphony in 1854, but much of his work underwent radical changes. The long gestation of the symphony may be attributed to two factors. First, Brahms' self-critical fastidiousness led him to destroy many of his early works. Second, there was an expectation from Brahms' friends and the public that he would continue "Beethoven's inheritance" and produce a symphony of commensurate dignity and intellectual scope—an expectation that Brahms felt he could not fulfill easily in view of the monumental reputation of Beethoven.