Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 36

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 tobedifficult 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-tonecompositionssince 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 aretheautonomy of the violin part and the use of extremely wide intervallic leaps and contrasting registers. This is the Schirmer Edition of the Full Score.