Brahms' Third Piano Quartet stands out for the extremely involved and complex history of its genesis. A very first version of certain sections - still in c sharp minor - had been written in 1855/56, but neither the composer nor his friends were genuinely happy with this version. In 1869 Brahms reprised his work , but still found no satisfying solution. It was not until 1874/75 that he brought the final version to paper, replacing two movements of the original version with new ones. While the "tragic" key of c minor points to the truly dark, passionate character of the work, the composer actually singled out the mood of suffering of the quartet himself in several letters.