Miklós Rózsa Miklós Rózsa (; April 18, 1907 – July 27, 1995) was a Hungarian-American composer trained in Germany (1925–1931) and active in France (1931–1935), the United Kingdom (1935–1940), and the United States (1940–1995), with extensi ...

composed his Violin Concerto, Op. 24, in 1953, following a request from the renowned violinist

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin styl ...

. It premiered on January 15, 1956, in

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, with the

Dallas Symphony Orchestra The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra based in Dallas, Texas. Its principal performing venue is the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District, Dallas, Arts District of downtown Dallas. History The orchestra tr ...

conducted by Walter Hendl, with Heifetz as soloist. Rózsa adapted the concerto into a

score SCORE may refer to: *SCORE (software), a music scorewriter program * SCORE (television), a weekend sports service of the defunct Financial News Network *SCORE! Educational Centers *SCORE International, an offroad racing organization *Sarawak Corrido ...

for

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

's 1970 film '' The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes''. The work is also available in a reduction for violin and piano.

Structure

The concerto is structured in the traditional concerto form of three movements: # Allegro non troppo ma passionato # Lento cantabile # Allegro vivace The concerto is scored for 2

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

s, 2

oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

s, 2

clarinet The clarinet is a Single-reed instrument, single-reed musical instrument in the woodwind family, with a nearly cylindrical bore (wind instruments), bore and a flared bell. Clarinets comprise a Family (musical instruments), family of instrume ...

s, 2

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

s, 4 horns, 2

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

s, 3

trombone The trombone (, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's lips vibrate inside a mouthpiece, causing the Standing wave, air c ...

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion instrument, percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a Membranophone, membrane called a drumhead, ...

glockenspiel The glockenspiel ( ; or , : bells and : play) or bells is a percussion instrument consisting of pitched aluminum or steel bars arranged in a Musical keyboard, keyboard layout. This makes the glockenspiel a type of metallophone, similar to the v ...

xylophone The xylophone (; ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars struck by mallets. Each bar is an idiophone tuned to a pitch of a musical scale, whether pentatonic or heptatonic in the case of many African ...

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

bass drum The bass drum is a large drum that produces a note of low definite or indefinite pitch. The instrument is typically cylindrical, with the drum's diameter usually greater than its depth, with a struck head at both ends of the cylinder. The head ...

cymbals A cymbal is a common percussion instrument. Often used in pairs, cymbals consist of thin, normally round plates of various alloys. The majority of cymbals are of indefinite pitch, although small disc-shaped cymbals based on ancient designs sou ...

(both crashed and suspended),

celesta The celesta () or celeste (), also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music ...

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

and strings.

History

Rózsa attempted to compose a violin concerto earlier in his career, when he was twenty one, but he abandoned the work because he considered it to be "immature".Miklos Rozsa: Violin Concerto
americanmusicpreservation.com, Steve Vertlieb, 22 September 2007 At the beginning of the 1950s he decided to try again. Reasoning that all great composers had written their concertos with a particular artist in mind, he decided to approach Heifetz. Rózsa met Heifetz only once, being introduced to him shortly after Rózsa's arrival in the United States during a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Rózsa knew Heifetz's accompanist, Emmanuel Bay, and he asked him to approach Heifetz on his behalf. He appeared interested, writing to Rózsa to compose only one movement. According to Rózsa's autobiography, ''Double Life'', he considered it to be a risky proposition because Heifetz was known for refusing other composers' works after hearing only one movement. During his break from

MGM Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. (also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, commonly shortened to MGM or MGM Studios) is an American Film production, film and television production and film distribution, distribution company headquartered ...

in 1953, Rózsa rented a villa in

Rapallo Rapallo ( , , ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Genoa, in the Italy, Italian region of Liguria. As of 2017 it had 29,778 inhabitants. It lies on the Ligurian Sea coast, on the Tigullio Gulf, between Portofino and ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where he began to write music for the new concerto. At first he wanted to compose only one movement, as Heifetz requested, but he soon decided to compose a full-scale concerto in three movements; the concerto was completed in just six weeks. When he returned to the United States, Rózsa delivered the manuscript to Emmanuel Bay who offered it to Heifetz for his approval. Heifetz contacted Rózsa saying that he liked the completed work and he suggested that the two should meet in four weeks, after the violinist would return from his concert tour. Six months elapsed without a word from Heifetz, and Rózsa assumed that he had lost interest in their collaboration. At the suggestion of fellow artists, Rózsa was encouraged to offer his work to other violinists. Before anyone else had an opportunity to accept or decline the invitation, however, Heifetz telephoned. Rózsa, perhaps inappropriately, assumed that the caller was not the great soloist at all but, rather, his friend and fellow composer Bronislau Kaper playing a practical joke on him. Consequently, when Heifetz contacted him by telephone, Rózsa replied "If you’re Heifetz, I’m Mozart." After recovering from what the composer considered one of the most embarrassing moments of his career, discussions proceeded. Heifetz wished to make some minor changes and edits, and Rózsa happily agreed, working together toward a finalized version of the concerto. Heifetz contacted Rózsa at the end of 1955 telling him that he was prepared to give the concert premiere of the work. The premiere took place on January 15, 1956, in

, with the

conducted by Walter Hendl, with Heifetz as soloist. At the conclusion of the performance, Heifetz called Rózsa to the stage where both were greeted by a standing ovation. Later that year Heifetz recorded the concerto, teaming again with Hendl and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Notable recordings

with Walter Hendl and the

* Anastasia Khitruk with Dmitry Yablonsky and the Russian Philharmonic Orchestra (nominated for the

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) The Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) was awarded from 1959 to 2011. From 1967 to 1971, and in 1987, the award was combined with the award for Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist Performance (without o ...

at the

50th Annual Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonie ...

) * Robert McDuffie with

Yoel Levi Yoel Levi (; born 16 August 1950) is an Israeli musician and conductor. Early life Born in Romania, Levi grew up in Israel. He studied at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music, receiving a Master of Arts degree with distinction. He continued studies a ...

and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra *

Igor Gruppman Igor Gruppman (born July 4, 1956) is a Ukrainian violinist and conductor. He is the Principal Conductor of the Orchestra at Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, a position he has held since 2003. In May 2009, Igor Gruppman was appointed by Vale ...

with James Sedares and the

New Zealand Symphony Orchestra The New Zealand Symphony Orchestra (NZSO) is a symphony orchestra based in Wellington, New Zealand. The national orchestra of New Zealand, the NZSO is an autonomous Crown entity owned by the New Zealand Government, per the New Zealand Symphony ...

* Matthew Trusler with Yasuo Shinozaki and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker

Notes

{{Authority control Compositions by Miklós Rózsa Rozsa 1953 compositions