Sergei Prokofiev wrote Violin Concerto No. 2 at the same time as his most famous work, the ballet “Romeo and Juliet”. He jokingly commented, “I can’t wait to get it over with both Juliet and the concerto.” The concerto was requested by the violinist Robert Soetens who was granted the sole right to perform the composition for one year.

Prokofiev recalled the story behind this composition in his autobiography, “As I had been intending to write something for the violin at that time and had accumulated some material, I readily agreed to the proposal. As in the case of the preceding concertos, I began by searching for an original title for the piece, such as ‘Concert Sonata for Violin and Orchestra’, but finally returned to the simplest solution: ‘Concerto No. 2’. Nevertheless, I wanted it to be altogether different from No. 1 both in music and style.”

Prokofiev brought the draft versions of the concerto’s sheet music everywhere he went. As a result, the concerto was partly written in Paris, Polenovo, Voronezh, and Baku. The geography of its performance was even more diverse. The concerto premiered in Madrid in 1935. Later, Prokofiev and Soetens performed it in Portugal, Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

Prokofiev was satisfied with the concerto debut, “The premiere of the Violin Concerto took place in Madrid on December 1. It gave me great pleasure, since it all sounded even better than I thought when I was orchestrating it, wilting from the heat in stuffy Baku. It seems the concerto is a success. The public reception was also excellent — the music somehow immediately reached the audience. Now I still plan to look it over again and to add a few details here and there.”

Violin Concerto No. 2 reflects the change in Prokofiev’s style in the 1930s. Known for his rambunctious dissonance, the composer took everyone by surprise when he started writing more tender and melodic music which he referred to as the “new simplicity”. The concerto resembles the lyrical ballet “Romeo and Juliet” composed the same year. The piece starts with a violin solo. This is quite unusual since most orchestra concertos begin with the entire orchestra playing together instead of a soloing instrument.