Arnold Schönberg

Concerto for Violin and Orchestra

In 1937, Schoenberg wrote of this Violin Concerto

'It is extremely difficult, just as much for the head as for the hands. I am delighted to add another 'unplayable' work to the repertoire. I want the concerto to be difficult and I want the little finger to become longer. I can wait. '

This concerto was one the first pieces Schoenberg began after emigrating to the United States. It is also one of his first twelve-tone compositions since his work on the opera Moses und Aron. The concerto is based on a single twelve-tone row which is rigorously applied. Apart from this strictness, the most notable general characteristics of the concerto are the autonomy of the violin part and the use of extremely wide intervallic leaps and contrasting registers. This is the Schirmer Edition of the Full Score.