BOHUSLAV MARTINŮ’s Rhapsody‑Concerto for Viola and Orchestra, H.337, is one of the later works of the leading Czech composer of the 20^th  century. After leaving Czechoslovakia in 1923, Martinů settled in Paris, later emigrating to the United States in 1941. He returned to Europe in 1956. The Rhapsody‑Concerto was composed in New York between March 15^th  and April 18^th , 1952, on a commission from the Ukrainian‑born American violinist and violist Jascha Veissi (1898–1983), who had emigrated to the United States in 1920. The premiere took place on February 19^th, 1953, with the Cleveland Orchestra under George Szell. Its European premiere likely followed later that year in Geneva with the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. During the three years in which Veissi held exclusive performance rights, he presented the work at numerous venues across the United States and Europe. Unfortunately, the recording made on July 2^nd , 1954, with the San Francisco Symphony under Walter Hendl has been lost. After the expiration of these exclusive rights, the Rhapsody‑Concerto quickly became one of the most frequently performed works in the viola repertoire.

Although Martinů’s vast output—more than 400 compositions—embraces a wide stylistic range, in the Rhapsody‑Concerto he turns toward neo‑romanticism, shaping broad, emotionally charged lyrical lines. He described the work himself as a shift from “geometry” to “fantasy.”

The concerto is in two movements. The first, in B‑flat major—a key favored in Martinů’s later works—centers on a four‑note motif reminiscent of the opening theme of Antonín Dvořák’s Requiem. After the orchestral introduction, the viola enters with a lyrical line that nonetheless demands considerable virtuosity. The second movement also opens with a slow introduction. Chromatic harmonies, dynamic contrasts, and varied orchestral textures in both the slow and faster sections give the music its vitality, while the coda glows with luminous lyricism.Martinů noted that the finale evokes a childhood memory of walking around the church tower in his native Polička with his little drum.