Concerto for Violin and Orchestra “To the Memory of an Angel”

Program notes

About the Work

In February 1935, the Ukrainian-American violinist Louis Krasner approached Berg with a commission for a violin concerto. Berg, absorbed in composing his opera Lulu, was initially reluctant. But his precarious finances and, soon after, a devastating personal loss changed his mind.

On April 22, 1935, eighteen-year-old Manon Gropius died of polio. She was the daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler (widow of Gustav Mahler), and Berg had been deeply fond of her. Shaken to his core, Berg suddenly saw how the concerto might become a requiem for the young woman he called “an angel.” He composed the work at extraordinary speed during the summer of 1935; the finished manuscript is dated August 11.

The concerto is in two movements, each divided into two sections. The first movement offers a musical portrait of Manon: the opening Andante presents her character with tender lyricism, incorporating a lilting Carinthian folk song that evokes her youth and charm. The subsequent Allegretto depicts her dancing, full of life and grace.

The second movement confronts death directly. The Allegro opens with a twelve-tone cry of anguish, music of shattering intensity. But the final Adagio brings transcendence: Berg quotes the Bach chorale “Es ist genug” (It is enough) from Cantata BWV 60, its strange, ascending whole-tone scale perfectly suited to the twelve-tone context. The violin rises ever higher, finally dissolving into silence.

Berg did not live to hear his concerto performed. The premiere took place on April 19, 1936, in Barcelona, with Louis Krasner as soloist. The work had become a double memorial: for Manon Gropius and for Berg himself.

Listen for: The Carinthian folk tune in the first movement, evoking youthful innocence. In the second movement, listen for the moment when the Bach chorale emerges from the twelve-tone texture, its centuries-old melody offering consolation. The violin’s final ascent into the stratosphere is one of the most moving passages in all of music.