Violin Concerto (Korngold)

The Violin Concerto in D major, op. 35, was composed by Erich Wolfgang Korngold in 1945 following some initial persuasion from the violinist and fellow émigré Bronisław Huberman. Dedicated to Alma Mahler, the widow of Korngold's childhood mentor Gustav Mahler, the violin concerto was eventually premiered on February 15, 1947 by Jascha Heifetz, accompanied by the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and conductor Vladimir Golschmann. Heifetz's performance launched the work into the standard repertoire, which quickly became Korngold's most popular piece. However, the fame of the violin concerto, combined with Korngold's eminent association with Hollywood film music, has helped obscure the rest of his legacy as a composer of concert-hall works written before and after his arrival in America.

Working in the lush, lyrical idiom reminiscent of fin de siècle Vienna, Korngold scored the concerto for elaborate instrumental forces. In addition to the solo violin, the concerto calls for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bass clarinet, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, harp, strings, as well as a colorful percussion section of timpani, bass drum, gong, bells, chime, cymbals, vibraphone, xylophone, and celesta. Although, Korngold was credited with introducing the sophisticated musical language of his classical training to the soundscapes of Hollywood films, a kind of reverse inspiration also occurred. Like many of Korngold's "serious" works in traditional genres, the violin concerto borrows thematic material from his movie scores in each of its three movements:

Moderato nobile: The magnificent soaring violin solo which opens the concerto is a theme from Another Dawn (1937), running over two octaves in five notes. Juarez (1939) provided the second theme, more expansive and reliant upon the orchestra.
Romanze: A solo clarinet introduces the principal theme of the slow movement, quoted from Anthony Adverse (1936) and revisited after a contrasting middle section that seems to have been uniquely composed for the concerto.
Allegro assai vivace: The most demanding movement for the soloist begins with a staccato jig, which leads to a second theme based on the main motif from The Prince and the Pauper (1937) and builds up to a virtuoso climax.