The first movement is a sonata-form movement in C minor in triple meter. It begins with the piano playing bare octaves on C. The violin, viola, and violoncello then play the first theme, consisting of two sighing gestures of a descending minor second, followed by a descending theme. Some have speculated that the sighing motive is a musical utterance of the name "Clara," in reference to Clara Schumann, the composer, pianist, and lifelong friend and love interest of Brahms. More clear is Brahms's transposed version of Robert Schumann's "Clara theme", found in various pieces such as his Bunte Blätter, Op. 99 (1841), on which both Clara and Brahms wrote sets of piano variations. The Clara theme (C-B-A-G♯-A, often transposed: here E♭-D-C-B-C) was first detected by Eric Sams in his essays and books on Schumann and Brahms. In his 1971 essay “Brahms and his Clara Themes”, Sams writes on the “Clara-content” in op. 60: “The first sentence of that autobiographical work is doubly expressive of Clara. Furthermore, there is direct evidence that this melodic form actually embodied her, for Brahms as for Schumann.”

Date of composition 1875
First published 1875
Type Piano Quartet
Tonality C Minor
Catalogue Op. 60
Approx. duration 31 minutes
Instruments Piano
Violin
Viola
Cello
Autotranslations beta Johannes Brahms: Quatuor pour piano n°3 en do mineur, Op. 60 "Werther"
Johannes Brahms: Quartetto per pianoforte n. 3 in do minore, Op. 60 "Werther"
Johannes Brahms: Quartett Nr. 3 für Klavier c-moll, Op. 60 "Werther"