Editing Violin Concerto (Berg) (section)

== Conception and composition ==
[[File:Louis Krasner (1903–1995) und Helene Berg (1885–1976) mit der Partitur des Violinkonzerts (1961) OeNB 657332.png|thumb|left|[[Louis Krasner|Krasner]] and Berg's widow [[:de:Helene Berg|Helene]] with the score (1961)]]
The piece stemmed from a commission from the violinist [[Louis Krasner]]. When he received the commission, Berg was working on his opera ''[[Lulu (opera)|Lulu]]'', and did not begin work on the concerto for some months.

An event that spurred him to start the concerto was the death by polio of 18-year-old [[Manon Gropius]], daughter of [[Walter Gropius]] and Berg's friend and [[patron]] [[Alma Mahler]] ([[Gustav Mahler]]'s widow). Berg set ''Lulu'' aside to write the concerto, which he dedicated "To the memory of an angel";<ref name="Glass" /> he identified the "angel" to Alma as Manon. Alma felt abandoned by the Bergs in her time of mourning, and Berg was eager to repair the breach. Berg sent Alma some part of the score, possibly the dedicatory page and opening, in 1935. It was her 56th birthday, to which the opening metronome marking (56 to a quarter note) likely referred.{{sfn|Simms and Erwin|2021|loc=382–390}}

Berg worked on the piece very quickly, completing it in a few months; it is thought that his work on the concerto was largely responsible for his failing to complete ''Lulu'' before his death on 24 December 1935. The concerto was the last work he completed. In a letter to Krasner dated 16 July 1935, Berg wrote: "Yesterday I finished the composition [without the orchestration] of our Violin Concerto. I am probably more surprised by it than you will be ... the work gave me more and more joy. I hope – no, I have the confident belief – that I have succeeded."{{cn|date=April 2020|reason=Looked in ''Berg: Violin Concerto'' (1991) by Anthony Pople and Julian Rushton, but can't find it there.}}

The manuscript score carries the date 11 August 1935.{{cn|date=February 2024}}