The trio first came to light in 1924 when it was discovered amongst papers musicologist Ernst Bücken had inherited from the Bonn-based musical collector Erich Preiger.
[1][2][3] Despite the fact that the manuscript lacked a title page and was in the hand of an unknown copyist rather than Brahms' own handwriting, Bücken believed the work was genuine based both on perceived stylistic similarities between the newly discovered work and the Piano Trio No.
[1][3] Bücken's attribution of the trio to Brahms was challenged a year after publication in an article by Richard Fellinger, who while supporting the attribution brought up the possibility that the trio, which was apparently written in the 1850s, may have been composed by a friend of Brahms, Albert Dietrich.
[3] McClelland notes that while most recent scholarship argues that Brahms did not compose this trio, few alternatives have been offered other than Dietrich.
The return of the scherzo builds as before to a turbulent, galloping climax and finishes abruptly with no added coda.