Uploaded November 2010 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
Concerto funebre (Funereal Concerto) is a violin concerto by the German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Written in 1939 and substantially revised in 1959, it is by far Hartmann's best known work, especially noted for its lyrical final movement. It is scored for string orchestra only.
Unlike many of his works, which were substantially reworked on an ongoing process, the Concerto funebre was completed in a relatively short timespan, principally in autumn 1939. Originally entitled Musik der Trauer (Music of Mourning) it was retitled in 1959. It is cast in four movements:
1. Introduktion. Largo
2. Adagio
3. Allegro di molto
4. Choral. Langsamer Marsch
Hartmann said in a letter to the conductor Hermann Scherchen that the structure was designed to reflect
The intellectual and spiritual hopelessness of the period... contrasted with an expression of hope in the two chorales in the beginning and at the end. The opening Chorale is sustained for the most part by the solo voice... The second Chorale at the end has the character of a slow march with a song-like melody.
It was premiered at St. Gallen, Switzerland on Thursday 29 February 1940 by the St. Gallen Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Ernst Klug; the soloist was the violinist Karl Neracher. Hartmann's (minimal) revision was first performed at Braunschweig on 12 November 1959. The soloist at that performance was Wolfgang Schneiderhan, one of the work's strongest advocates.
Hartmann He voluntarily withdrew completely from musical life in Germany during the Nazi era, while remaining in Germany, and refused to allow his works to be played there. An early symphonic poem, Miserae (1933--1934, first performed in Prague, 1935) was condemned by the Nazi regime; but his work continued to be performed, and his fame grew, abroad.
During World War II, though already an experienced composer, Hartmann submitted to a course of private tuition in Vienna by Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern (with whom he often disagreed on a personal and political level). Although stylistically their music had little in common, he clearly felt that he needed, and benefitted from, Webern's acute perfectionism.
Concerto funebre (Funereal Concerto) is a violin concerto by the German composer Karl Amadeus Hartmann. Written in 1939 and substantially revised in 1959, it is by far Hartmann's best known work, especially noted for its lyrical final movement. It is scored for string orchestra only.
Unlike many of his works, which were substantially reworked on an ongoing process, the Concerto funebre was completed in a relatively short timespan, principally in autumn 1939. Originally entitled Musik der Trauer (Music of Mourning) it was retitled in 1959. It is cast in four movements:
1. Introduktion. Largo
2. Adagio
3. Allegro di molto
4. Choral. Langsamer Marsch
Hartmann said in a letter to the conductor Hermann Scherchen that the structure was designed to reflect
The intellectual and spiritual hopelessness of the period... contrasted with an expression of hope in the two chorales in the beginning and at the end. The opening Chorale is sustained for the most part by the solo voice... The second Chorale at the end has the character of a slow march with a song-like melody.
It was premiered at St. Gallen, Switzerland on Thursday 29 February 1940 by the St. Gallen Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Ernst Klug; the soloist was the violinist Karl Neracher. Hartmann's (minimal) revision was first performed at Braunschweig on 12 November 1959. The soloist at that performance was Wolfgang Schneiderhan, one of the work's strongest advocates.
Hartmann He voluntarily withdrew completely from musical life in Germany during the Nazi era, while remaining in Germany, and refused to allow his works to be played there. An early symphonic poem, Miserae (1933--1934, first performed in Prague, 1935) was condemned by the Nazi regime; but his work continued to be performed, and his fame grew, abroad.
During World War II, though already an experienced composer, Hartmann submitted to a course of private tuition in Vienna by Schoenberg's pupil Anton Webern (with whom he often disagreed on a personal and political level). Although stylistically their music had little in common, he clearly felt that he needed, and benefitted from, Webern's acute perfectionism.
