Brahms composed this, his only violin concerto in the summer of 1878, and it was first performed at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, on January 1, 1879, with the composer conducting.  Joseph Joachim, to whom it is dedicated, played the solo part at the premiere.  It has been performed six times by the Madison Symphony Orchestra, in 1936 (George Szpinalski), 1946 (Roman Totenberg), 1963 (Sidney Harth), 1975 (Dylana Jenson), and 1991 (Itzhak Perlman).

"One enjoys getting hot fingers playing it, because it's worth it!"
       - Joseph Joachim

In the summer of 1878, Brahms retired to the town of Pörtschach in southern Austria to work on his violin concerto.  (Pörtschach apparently provided a fine creative environment for the composer--he had completed his second symphony there during the previous summer.)  The concerto was dedicated to his friend and colleague, violinist Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), and the concerto was, in a limited sense, a collaboration between composer and soloist.   Brahms and Joachim first met in 1853, beginning a lifelong friendship and musical association.  When he had completed the first three movements in August of 1878, he sent a copy of the solo violin part to Joachim with a letter:  "After copying it, I am not sure what you can do with a mere solo part.  Of course, I would like you to make corrections;  I had intended to leave you no excuse whatsoever--neither that the music is too good, nor that it isn't worth the trouble.  Now, I would be satisfied if you write a letter to me or perhaps mark the music: difficult, awkward, impossible, etc.  I have just started the fourth movement, so you can overrule the awkward passages at once."

Joachim promptly replied with a marked copy of the part and a letter of his own: "It is a great, sincere joy for me that you are writing a violin concerto (even one in four movements!).  I immediately studied what you sent to me, and you will note a few remarks and notes for changes, but without the score, one cannot appreciate it.  Most of it can be executed and some parts have a quite original violinistic flair.  I cannot say whether everything can be played with ease in a hot concert hall until I have tried out the whole."

Brahms incorporated several of Joachim's suggestions into the final version of the score, and rather than providing a cadenza for the first movement, he used one written by Joachim.

The Violin Concerto stands as one of the largest and most challenging works in the solo violin repertoire.  While his projected fourth movement was not included in the final form of the concerto (Brahms successfully used a four-movement design three years later in his second piano concerto.), the concerto's traditional three-movement design nevertheless has symphonic proportions.  Indeed, there are several close ties between the Violin Concerto  and the Symphony No.2, written a year earlier (and in the same key).  Brahms also makes several subtle references to Beethoven's violin concerto, which is also in D Major.   The concerto, written with the talents of Joachim in mind, presents formidable challenges for the soloist.  One violinist, Bronislaw Huberman, referred to the work--only half-jokingly--as "...a concerto for violin against  orchestra--and the violin wins!"

The orchestral introduction to the first movement (Allegro non troppo) presents nearly all of the movement's thematic material in a single dramatic phrase.  Musical material is disengaged from this phrase--like single strands from a larger thread--as the movement continues.  The violin's opening music presents a fiery variant of a melody fully introduced later in the movement above the orchestra's presentation of the lyrical main theme.  Throughout the movement, Brahms restlessly develops his themes, even in the short coda that follows the cadenza.

The second movement (Adagio) presents a theme and several variations, a form that interested Brahms throughout his life.  The theme is presented by the oboe, and then picked up by the soloist in variations that exhaustively develop the theme and its component parts.  There is an abrupt contrast between the reserved F Major close of this movement  and the spirited opening of the rondo-form finale in D Major .  The main theme of the third movement (Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo vivace) is presented immediately by the violin: a Hungarian-flavored melody spiced with double stops.  A second section, presenting a stormy dotted figure, drifts gradually back to a restatement of the main melody.  A more lyrical central episode, which refers subtly to the opening melody gives way to a restatement of the second section.  The movement closes with a long and dramatic coda, in which both soloist and orchestra develop the main theme.

program notes ©2002 J. Michael Allsen