Szymanowski, who wrote his Symphony in F minor Op. 15 in 1906-07, originally envisaged this first symphony of his as a three-movement composition, yet eventually completed only two movements: the first Allegro pathétique and the third Allegretto con moto grazioso, with the middle movement never instrumented nor performed. In Szymanowski's lifetime the Symphony was presented to the public only once, on 26th March 1909 in Warsaw, Grzegorz Fitelberg conducting. The following performance - under the same conductor - took place after Szymanowski's death, on 6th October 1938 at the Polish Radio in Warsaw.
Szymanowski came to dislike his Symphony while he was still working on it, and in a letter written from Tymoszówka to his friend, composer and pianist Anna Maria Klechniowska, confessed: