![]() ![]() Burmester never played the work, and the dedication finally went to yet another player, Ferenc von Vecsey, a Hungarian violinist born in 1893, who in his prodigy days was one of the concerto’s earliest champions. I shall play the concerto in Helsingfors in such a way that the city will be at your feet”-only to find himself passed over again, this time in favor of Karl Halir, concertmaster in Berlin, a former member of the Joachim Quartet, and himself a distinguished quartet leader. After the near-disastrous premiere Burmester offered his services again for a series of performances in October 1904-“All of my twenty-five years’ stage experience, my artistry and insight will be at the service of this work. That he would fail with this concerto was a foregone conclusion, yet that was the plan the self-destructive Sibelius chose. Victor Nováček, who ended up giving the premiere of this piece, was a violin teacher with no reputation as a performer. Sibelius sent the score to Burmester (“Wonderful! Masterly! Only once before have I spoken in such terms to a composer, and that was when Tchaikovsky showed me his concerto”) and let word get about that the work would be dedicated to him, but at the same time pushed for a premiere at a time when Burmester was not free or, at best, would have had too little time to learn a piece that in its original form was still more demanding technically than it is now. He behaved outrageously to Willy Burmester, the German virtuoso who had been concertmaster in Helsingfors for a while in the 1890s, who admired Sibelius and was ambitious on his behalf, who stirred him up to write a violin concerto and of course hoped to give the first performance. He was limitlessly inventive when it came to finding ways of running from work in progress. Sibelius was drinking heavily and seemed virtually to be living at Kamp’s and König’s restaurants in Helsingfors. But after that inspired start the history of the piece was troubled. In September 1902 he wrote to his wife Aino-and this was the first mention of the concerto-that he had just had “a marvelous opening idea” for such a work. THE BACKSTORY In no violin concerto is the soloist’s first note-delicately dissonant and off the beat-more beautiful. INSTRUMENTATION: 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 2 trumpets, 3 trombones, timpani, and strings Leonidas Kavakos was soloist, Michael Tilson Thomas conducted Jascha Veissi was soloist, Basil Cameron conducted. ![]() Maud Powell, who was also the first to play the Dvořák and Tchaikovsky concertos in the US, with Vassily Safonov conducting the New York Philharmonic Karl Halir was soloist, with Richard Strauss on the podium, in Berlin In its new and present form, and the version that is played at these performances, the work received its premiere on October 19, 1905. ![]() Victor Nováček was soloist, with the composer conducting the Helsingfors Philharmonic, at Helsingfors (Helsinki). WORLD PREMIERE: The first version was premiered on February 8, 1904. ![]() After its world premiere, Sibelius withdrew the work for revision, a task he accomplished in June 1905 The work was completed in short score (that is, with the orchestration worked out but not written down in detail) in the fall of 1903, and finished the full score about New Year 1904. Järvenpää, FinlandĬOMPOSED: Begun in September 1902. Tavestehus, FinlandĭIED: September 20, 1957. ![]()
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