Tchaikovsky wrote his Violin Concerto in March 1878 while staying amid the breathtaking mountains of Clarens, Switzerland on Lake Geneva.
The work was spurred by a visit from the violinist Iosif Kotek, who had been asking Tchaikovsky for a violin concerto for some time. After playing through Lalo’s Symphonie espagnole together, Tchaikovsky’s imagination was fired with ideas for his own concerto.
Kotek had been one of Tchaikovsky’s admiring students at the Moscow Conservatory, but the two only became close after Kotek’s graduation in 1876
The concerto has become a major staple in the violin literature, and here is Janine Jansen to play it for your enjoyment:
