Divertimento (Concertino) for piano left hand and orchestra in G was written at the request of Otakar Hollmann, a piano virtuoso who lost his right hand during the World War I. The composition was completed on March 31, 1926, in Paris. The composer's characterization of Divertimento is significant not only for the emerging wave of neoclassicism, but also, in detail, of his first – "Mozartian" – phase. When a short paragraph about the news from Paris concerning Martinů’s work appeared in the Brno-based magazine Hudební rozhledy (Musical Horizons), it mentioned the Concertino for left hand piano and orchestra. Based on this, the official title includes Concertino in brackets, but it is still the original Divertimento.
The composition was premiered in Prague on February 26, 1947, performed by Otakar Hollmann and the Prague Symphony Orchestra FOK. The autograph is kept in the Czech Museum of Music.
Jaroslav Mihule, Martinů: Osud skladatele, Prague: Karolinum, 2002, p. 136–137.