Polish composer Karol Szymanowski worked on his Symphony No. 1 in F minor Op. 15 between 1906 and 1907.
Szymanowski struggled with the composition. He wrote in a letter from 1906 that it was going to "turn out to be some sort of contrapuntal-harmonic-orchestral monster" and going so far as to say "I don't like it". He only completed the first movement and the finale and these two movements had a single performance at the Warsaw Philharmonia, conducted by Grzegorz Fitelberg on 26 March 1909, before Szymanowski withdrew the score.
The symphony is scored for 3 flutes, 3 oboes, 4 clarinets, 3 bassoons, 6 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, tuba, percussion (4 players), 2 harps and strings.
The two movements are:
<ol type="I" start="1"> <li>Allegro moderato</li> <li>Allegretto con moto grazioso</li> </ol>
The playing time is approximately 20 minutes.