Wps Violin Repertoire :
This page will eventually turn into an exhaustive repertoire guide complete with course recommendations and grade of difficulty markings for each piece !
 | Beginners should play lots of short music each piece of a different character, tempo and mood. View what I give beginners to play. In brief the four main categories of pieces a violinist must be aware of are : |
| Studies (Etudes) : Studies are the backbone of violin technique ; the most important and complete category for the development of Violin technique. Violinists who ignore this category often lack solidity and confidence in their playing. This is why you will find every Music Conservatoire in the World recommending a rigid course of studies : Wohlfahrt, Kayser, Mazas, Dancla, Kreutzer, Rode, Campagnoli, Fiorillo, Dont and Wieniawski. It is also important to note that all violinists of International or Professional repute have built their technique thanks mainly to the study repertoire. |
| The Concerto : Database. The Concerto repertoire is also important in developing technique. From Concertinos, to French Classical Concerti, to Great Concerti by the Grand Masters, such as Beethoven, one may find every level of difficulty catered for. Concerto playing develops flair and bravura in playing. Technical passages may rival Etude repertoire in didactic value.. with the added advantage that a well prepared concerto is a valuable asset as a Concert or Audition piece. I am preparing an invaluable database of Concerti for Violin. To follow a sensible line of study, one would start with a Concertino such as Rieding's B minor Op.35, possibly progress with other Concertinos published by Bosworth, especially those by Rieding, then follow the Violinist Composers chronologically starting with the Baroque, then the Classical and then the Romantic Era. As a rough guide, Vivaldi, Telemann, Bach, Haydn, Stamitz, Mozart, Viotti, Kreutzer, Rode, DeBériot, Spohr , Paganini, Lalo, Vieuxtemps, Wieniawski, possibly Ernst and finally the Great Concerti of Sibelius, which in itself is considered a stepping stone to, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Brahms and Tchaikovsky (But really also includes Elgar and Dvorak, Britten etc.). Even with this list I haven't mentioned those by Accolay, Saint Saens, Bruch, Prokofiev, Glazunov and others but they are there somewhere in a well thought out program. |
| Encore (Salon / Genre) Pieces : Graded Encore Database These are harder to recommend a specific order. One must use a Paganini Cantabile to develop someone's singing tone ; a Wieniawski salon piece to develop one's knowledge of the fingerboard and a Sarasate piece for all those elegant advanced bowings, such as up bow staccato |
| Sonatas and Solo Repertoire : The Violinist with a complete and seasoned technique, well prepared in the first three categories of repertoire may engage in Chamber music Sonatas by the Master composers ; Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Brahms, Prokofiev, Franck and Ravel. Corelli sonatas, as well as Tartini and other Baroque sonatas up to Handel have their place in the development and didactic refinement of baroque style, such as détaché bowing. |