Probably composed in the early months of 1877, the VALSE SCHERZO, OP. 34, occupies an important position in the oeuvre of Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) as it prepared him to begin work on the Violin Concerto in D the following year. Swept into a whirlwind romance with violinist Iosif Kotek, to whom he dedicated the work, he found the impetus to write it after the former student showed him the score of Édouard Lalo's Symphony Espagnole. It premiered at Trocadero Hall in Paris on September 21, 1878, with Nikolai Rubinstein conducting and Stanislaw Barcewicz as the soloist.