For Bohuslav Martinů, coming to the USA in 1941 signified a change in his lifestyle which also impacted his working conditions. The commission for the violin concerto Concerto da Camera, H 285 which he received from his friend Paul Sacher of Basel provided Martinů with support which helped him concentrate on composing. Sacher, a conductor and patron, deserves credit for the inception of several other compositions by Martinů (for example, Double Concerto, H 271and Gilgamesh Epic, H 351), as well as for a significant number of other masterpieces by 20th-century composers (Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, Arthur Honegger).
Concerto da Camera for Violin and String Orchestra with Piano and Percussion is another example of the solo part of the concert instrument in Martinů’s oeuvre. More than in other compositions to be performed tonight, this work places greater emphasis on the role and virtuosity of its soloist, although not in a mechanical or self-serving way. As is the case with Sinfonietta giocosa, H 282 (which was written shortly before the Concerto da camera), the Concerto is related to the Double Concerto of 1938 and takes inspiration from concerts of the Baroque type. Common features can be found primarily in the first movement--in the areas of thematic development, rhythm and its phrasing, in the frequent occurrences of chromatic runs, and its expressive charge, which is reminiscent of the expressive world of the Double Concerto. One can sense Baroque stylistic elements in the background in figurative melodies and in interchanges between orchestral tutti and violin solo, which in some places is joined by the piano as a second “concertino” instrument. This composition can be considered the top solo concert in the style of “concerto grosso” in Bohuslav Martinů’s oeuvre. Its title is derived from the term “concerto da camera” describing 17th-century chamber concerts meant for the secular environment, as opposed to “concerto di chiesa”, originally composed for the needs of church music.
Martinů himself stated that the first movement has “a joined form of variation and introduces themes executed with an increasing speed in the solo part and with grand, dynamic tutti in the orchestra.” The second movement is a Baroque type of “aria” accompanied by the polyphony of the string orchestra. Thematically, the third movement is based on the first movement with the addition of the cymbals and triangle. It is a rondo form with the reappearance of the melodically and rhythmically marked theme which is diatonic in character.
Jana Honzíková, programme of the Bohuslav Martinů Festival's concert, December 10, 2000