Single sheet program from the 23 October 1931, Philharmonie (Berlin) world premiere of Stravinsky's Violin Concerto, performed by Samuel Dushkin under the direction of the composer himself, also leading the Berliner Funk-Orchesters in “Apollon Musagète" and “Petruschka”. General toning, small tears to bottom edge and some pencil annotations to verso in an  unknown hand, else fine. 9 x 11.75 inches; 20.5 x 28.5 cm. 

Stravinsky's Violin Concerto in D is a neoclassical violin concerto in four movements and one of the undisputed 20th century masterpieces in the form. The idea of a violin concerto was born in the mind of Willy Strecker of B. Schotts Söhne, Stravinsky's music publisher at the time, who proposed to Stravinsky that he compose something for the young violinist Samuel Dushkin, assuring Stravinsky that he could consult with Dushkin about technical issues (White 1979, 368). Stravinsky noted in his autobiography that Dushkin's availability for advice was a factor in his undertaking the Violin Concerto.

Stravinsky began sketching the Concerto in Paris early in 1931, with composition beginning in earnest in Nice, where the first two movements were completed and the third begun. In the summer, Stravinsky moved to the Château de la Véronnière in Voreppe in Isère, where he completed the third movement and wrote all of the fourth (White 1979, 369).

Though Stravinsky told his publisher he wanted to write "a true virtuoso concerto", "the texture is always more characteristic of chamber music than orchestral music. I did not compose a cadenza, not because I did not care about exploiting violin virtuosity, but because the violin in combination was my real interest. But virtuosity for its own sake has only a small role in my Concerto, and the technical demands of the piece are relatively tame "(V. Stravinsky and Craft 1978, 306; I. Stravinsky and Craft 1982, 47–48; quoted in Pople 1991, 3).