The Private and Public Lives of a Lost Concerto: Milton Babbitt’s Concerti for Violin, Orchestra, and Synthesized Sound

Abstract

Milton Babbitt’s violin concerto (1975–1976), entitled Concerti for Violin, Orchestra, and Synthesized Sound, was premiered at Juilliard in January of 2016, an impressive feat given that it was only unearthed in the spring of 2015 and that the electronic part was incomplete. After discussing Concerti’s history and discovery, a pedagogical and philosophical perspective is offered for future soloists. Concerti demands the highest levels of technical preparation, intellectual engagement, and expressive commitment. The performer is encouraged to seek and live with two simultaneous lives of the piece: a private life, characterised by a ceaseless drive for betterment and deeper understanding, and a public life, in which organic utterances of expressive communication are the top priority.