An event that spurred him to start the concerto was the death by polio of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, daughter of Walter Gropius and Berg's friend and patron Alma Mahler (Gustav Mahler's widow). Berg set Lulu aside to write the concerto, which he dedicated "To the memory of an angel"; he identified the "angel" to Alma as Manon. Alma felt abandoned by the Bergs in her time of mourning, and Berg was eager to repair the breach. Berg sent Alma some part of the score, possibly the dedicatory page and opening, in 1935. It was her 56th birthday, to which the opening metronome marking (56 to a quarter note) likely referred.
An event that spurred him to start the concerto was the death by polio of 18-year-old Manon Gropius, daughter of Walter Gropius and Berg's friend and patron Alma Mahler (Gustav Mahler's widow). Berg set Lulu aside to write the concerto, which he dedicated "To the memory of an angel"; he identified the "angel" to Alma as Manon. Alma felt abandoned by the Bergs in her time of mourning, and Berg was eager to repair the breach. Berg sent Alma some part of the score possibly the dedicatory page and opening, in 1935. It was her 56th birthday, to which the opening metronome marking (56 to a quarter note) likely referred.