Schumann: Violin Concerto | Isabelle Faust and the Freiburger Barockorchester

Isabelle Faust performs Robert Schumann’s Violin Concerto in D minor, WoO 1 together with the Freiburger Barockorchester (FBO) under conductor Pablo Heras Casado. The concert was held in May 2014 in the Berliner Philharmonie. The Violin Concerto in D minor is the only concert for violin from Robert Schumann (1810 - 1856), and his last work for orchestra. Written in just two weeks in the Fall of 1853, its conception can be traced in part back to a suggestion from Joseph Joachim – one of the 19th century’s most significant violinists. It was never performed during Schumann’s lifetime; following a suicide attempt in Spring of 1854 he was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, where he would pass away in 1856. It was only in November 1937 that Schumann’s violin concert received its premiere. An extensively reworked version was played by the Berlin Philharmonic at a propaganda event by the National Socialists. The conductor was Karl Böhm; Georg Kulenkampff played solo violin. The original vers