A relatively youthful work, written in 1907-08, Bartók's first concerto demonstrates considerable change in writing style since his earlier major work, the symphonic poem Kossuth, of 1903. His folk-music collaboration with Zoltán Kodály had begun in 1905 and by the time work began on Violin Concerto No. 1 he had already published his first Hungarian folksong settings, had started to collect folk music with an Edison phonograph, and had begun an investigation of Rumanian folk music. The influence of the music of Debussy and Reger has also been noted in the compositions of this period.

One cannot discuss this work without reference to Stefi Geyer, the young violinist with whom Bartók became totally besotted. During the composition period he was clearly deeply in love with her and this work, dedicated to her, is undoubtedly the musical expression of his feelings. Geyer was later to describe the first movement as 'the young girl whom he had loved' and the second as 'the violinist whom he had admired'. Bartók himself described the first movement as his 'most direct' music, 'written exclusively from the heart'. The opening D F# A C# motif is the germ of the work and is alluded to in many instances in later works, including his final work, the Viola Concerto of 1945. In its minor form, C# E G# B#, Bartók described it in a letter to Geyer of September, 1907, as 'your leitmotif'. This motif was also used, probably coincidentally, by Vernon Duke in I Can't Get Started (1935). Geyer never performed the work and in fact it remained unplayed in its original two movement form until after her death. The first performance in Basle on 30th May, 1958 featured the violinist Hans-Heinz Schneeberger and conductor Paul Sacher. Prior to this the first movement became, with minor modifications, the first of the Two Portraits, the second movement being an orchestrated version of the last of the Fourteen Bagatelles, renamed Grotesque.

Writer: Donald Maurice