The Piano Trio in B was the first published chamber work by Johannes Brahms (1833- 1897), but it was doubtless not his first trio, and certainly not the first chamber work he composed. There is evidence that Brahms destroyed some 20 string quartets before allowing one (Op. 51) to be published in 1873. Two or more piano trios may have preceded Opus 8, and it is possible that a Trio in A, which came to light in 1938, was an early work that Brahms meant to destroy.

Brahms completed the Piano Trio in B early in 1854 and its first version was published the same year. Clara Schumann found the work beautiful but did not especially care for the first movement. She felt the entire work was repetitious, and the first movement was particularly long. This movement contained no fewer than five themes, which did not contrast well with one another. After a normal development section there was a second, fugato development imbedded in the recapitulation.

In 1888 Brahms's publisher, Simrock, wrote to the composer asking if he would care to make some revisions in his early works for the purpose of publishing second editions. Brahms replied enthusiastically, "I shall certainly revise, and in such a manner that you will be justified in announcing it on the title page." Thus, in 1890 Simrock published a new version of the Opus 8 Trio. Brahms had completely overhauled the first movement, making it more concise by deleting a fugato and replacing several subordinate themes by one incisive one. The Adagio and Finale were treated similarly. A superfluous Allegro section in the slow movement was removed, and the overabundance of material in the final Allegro was trimmed to improve its formal integrity. Only the Scherzo escaped major surgery, for Brahms revised its coda only. In this version, we hear the Piano Trio in B today -- revised by a mature hand, but missing none of the youthful exuberance of its original creation.