The first ballade was inspired by a Scottish poem "Edward" found in a collection Stimmen der Völker in ihren Liedern compiled by Johann Gottfried Herder.
It is also one of the best examples of Brahms's bardic or Ossianic style; its open fifths, octaves, and simple triadic harmonies are supposed to evoke the sense of a mythological past.
Brahms returned to the wordless ballade form in writing the third of the Six Pieces for Piano, Op.
75 vocal duets titled "Ballads and Romances" include a setting of the poem "Edward"—the same that inspired Op.
A number of famous pianists have played some or all of the Ballades, including Grigory Sokolov, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, Arthur Rubinstein, Emil Gilels, Sviatoslav Richter, Alfred Brendel, Glenn Gould, Wilhelm Kempff, İdil Biret, Daniel Barenboim, Julius Katchen, Igor Levit, Yunchan Lim, Pascal Rogé, Alessio Bax, Cédric Tiberghien, Krystian Zimerman and Claudio Arrau.