K.A. Hartmann (1905-1963) was a committed anti-Nazi. During World War II he banned all performances of his music in his native Germany. He ultimately had to go in hiding, and worked in the anti-Hitler underground. He wrote this concerto in 1938, opening protesting his nation's occupation of Czechoslovakia. He used the ages-old resistance hymn of the Czech people, known as the "Hussite hymn," which has been used as a national symbol by Czech composers including Smetana, Dvorak, Janacek, Martinu, and Husa. The concerto was premiered in Switzerland during the autumn of 1939, just after full-scale war broke out with Germany's invasion of Poland. In common with many other works of this period, Hartmann withdrew the original version. He issued a revised version in 1959. At that time he stated that "The absence of hope in matters of the spirit during that period should stand in contrast to the expression of hope and confidence in both chorale movements."

The concerto opens with the solo violin playing an anguished, distorted version of the Hussite theme. This introduction is brief. The Adagio movement is in the rhythm of a funeral march and has a rhapsodic form. The third movement is a scherzo with an acid satiric tone. The finale uses the Hussite theme and a pre-1917 Russian revolutionary song, and ends on a strong dissonant chord.

© Joseph Stevenson, Rovi