The First Symphony of the German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann was completed in 1955.
Subtitled Versuch eines Requiems (Essay Towards a Requiem), the piece began life in 1936 as a cantata for alto solo and orchestra, setting translations of poetry by Walt Whitman.
Unsurprisingly it went unperformed during these years, as did the majority of Hartmann's output, and it was not until 1948 that the piece was performed in Frankfurt am Main.
However Hartmann withdrew that work, and in 1954-55 after further revision, re-designated this piece as his First Symphony, with its new title Versuch eines Requiem.
Hartmann did not set complete poems by Whitman, instead opting for extracts.