Sophie Menter she became professor of piano at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory but left in 1886 to continue concertizing. Because of her popularity, Menter succeeded with music that no other pianist would touch. This included Liszt's First Piano Concerto, which she played in Vienna in 1869, 12 years after its disastrous premiere there. One of her recital specialties was a piece entitled "Rhapsodies". This was a composite of three of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsodies—Nos. 2, 6 and 12—along with fragments from several others. She also composed various pieces for piano, mainly in a brilliant style, yet referred to her own compositional talent as
Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119 (Brahms) he may have included some earlier compositions, and it is quite possible, although there is no definite proof, that some works—such as the E major rhapsody—may have been conceived before 1892. Two earlier collections of smaller lyric piano pieces, Eight Pieces for Piano Op. 76, and Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79, date from 1871-79 (published 1879 and 1880 respectively). The poetic mood of the first intermezzo from Op. 119 belies its vague title. In a letter from May 1893 to Clara Schumann, Brahms wrote: "I am tempted to copy out a small piano piece for you, because I would like to