Why did Nikolay Rubinstein initially reject Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1?

Nikolay Rubinstein, a pianist and the director of the Moscow Conservatory, initially rejected Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor because he condemned the work as being "badly written."12

Rubinstein refused to perform the piece unless the composer agreed to make substantial revisions to the score. Tchaikovsky, however, declined to alter his work and instead offered the premiere to the German virtuoso Hans von Bülow, who accepted it. Following the concerto's subsequent international success, Rubinstein withdrew his criticism, eventually adding the work to his own repertoire and conducting its Moscow premiere.1