He wrote it in the spring of 1967 and intended it to serve as a 60th birthday present for its dedicatee, David Oistrakh, in September.
However, Shostakovich had mistaken Oistrakh's age; he actually turned 59 that year.
[1] The concerto is scored for solo violin, piccolo, flute, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns, timpani, tom-tom drum and strings.
[1] It has three movements: The key of C-sharp minor is a difficult one for the violin.
[1] The first movement is in sonata form[1] and concludes with a contrapuntal cadenza.