Glazunov began to compose this work at the age of fifteen. His diary records: “I composed and orchestrated the slow movement of Symphony no. 1 (“Andante”) in the summer of 1881 . . . The score of the symphony was completed by the autumn.” It was first performed in St Petersburg on 29 March 1882. Although the composer was still a schoolboy, his symphony was the work of “fully-fledged musician with great technical expertise.” (César Cui). Mily Balakirev once said to Tchaikovsky: “Apart from Mendelssohn, no one got off to such a good start as Glazunov.” In 1932, when the composer looked at his symphony fifty years after the first performance, he remarked: “Not a single note needs to be changed.”