Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, born in 1881, started his musical journey as a pianist at the age of 11 and later pursued his studies in composition and piano at Budapest's Royal Academy of Music. At the academy, he received guidance from notable instructors such as László Erkel, János Koessler, and István Thoman.

Bartók's exceptional skills as a pianist quickly gained recognition within the academy, particularly for his outstanding interpretations of Franz Liszt's compositions. He had the opportunity to collaborate with his contemporary Zoltán Kodály, another composer, in collecting and analyzing Hungarian folk songs.

One of Bartók's notable works is his Violin Concerto No. 1, composed between 1907 and 1908. However, it wasn't until May 30th, 1958, that the concerto premiered, featuring Swiss violinist Hansheinz Schneeberger as the performer. The concerto was dedicated to Stefi Geyer, a talented violinist with whom Bartók had developed romantic feelings. Unfortunately, Geyer did not reciprocate Bartók's affection and rejected both him and the concerto.

As a result, the concerto remained untouched in a drawer for over fifty years, unknown to the public. It was only revealed by Geyer herself on her deathbed, leading to its posthumous publication.

The structure of the concerto differs from the traditional three-movement form, consisting of only two movements. It begins with a slow movement followed by a fast one, deviating from the norm. Bartók utilized a similar rhapsodic structure in his Op. 1 Rhapsody for piano and orchestra.

Interestingly, Bartók repurposed portions of the concerto's first movement for his Two Portraits, Op. 5, which symbolically represents Stefi Geyer. It is speculated that the second movement of the concerto serves as a self-portrait of Béla Bartók himself.