AKIRAIFUKUBE.ORG - Rapsodia Concertante for Violin and Orchestra

RAPSODIA CONCERTANTE
FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA
Violin Concerto No. 1
(1948, revised 1971)

Toshiya Eto

During his stays in Sapporo, Nikko and Tokyo between the years of 1945 and 1948, Ifukube composed Violin Concerto, which consisted of three movements and lasted 40 minutes. It premiered in Tokyo on June 22, 1948 with the violinist Toshiya Eto and the conductor Masashi Ueda.

However, Ifukube was not satisfied with this work and, in 1951, he removed the second movement, "Arioso." This movement was an adagio and lasted about 15 minutes. Ifukube retained the first and third movements, but not without makes changes to both. Subsequently, the new two-movement version of the piece won an award at the Genoa International Composing Competition.

Ifukube later made changes to the piece in 1959 and again in 1971. (This was the final version Ifukube settled on.) After going through several names with each revision, Ifukube ultimately decided on the name Rapsodia Concertante for Violin and Orchestra (Violin Concerto No. 1).

Rapsodia Concertante for Violin and Orchestra consists of two movements. The first movement is called "Adagio~Allegro" and the second movement is called "Vivace spirituoso".

Masashi Ueda

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Acknowledgments:

The Artistry of Akira Ifukube 1 (KICC-179) by Motohide Katayama and translated by Junko Nonoyama.