Four Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

A prolific composer who wrote nearly 500 concertos and 70 sonatas, his most famous concertos are  the Four Seasons(1725). Each of the four concertos for strings and solo violin in The Four Seasons musically represents a different season of the year.  "Four seasons"  are marked by vigorous rhythms and strong contrasts. Click here  for Four seasons violin sheet music.   Click on each to buy violin sheet music for each season.
Autumn    Winter    Summer    Spring        

Virtual sheet music is violin sheet music which can be downloaded into your computer and printed if needed.  This is highly recommended as it is very cheap.  Click  here   for "Four Seasons"  virtual sheet music.

Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy He was trained by his father , a violinist at Saint Mark’s Cathedral. Ordained a priest in 1703, Vivaldi began giving violin lessons at the Ospedale della Pietà, a conservatory that trained musically talented orphaned girls. He was promoted to maestro de' concerti in 1716. From 1713 even though Vivaldi travelled in Italy and elsewhere as an opera composer and producer he kept his job with Ospedale della Pietà and was recieving monthly salary. The final years of Vivaldi were miserable .His compositions were considered outdated due to changes in style and he had to sell most of his manuscipts at low prices for life. He later migrated to vienna and died in poverty there on 28 July 1741.

The standard three-movement format, in which a slow movement appears between two fast outer movements is attributed to Vivaldi. He was among the first to introduce cadenzas—passages of extraordinary technical virtuosity—for soloists. Vivaldi is considered one of the composers who brought Baroque Music to evolve into a classical style The great Baroque era composer Johann Sebastian Bach was deeply influenced by Vivaldi's concertos and arias . Bach transcribed a number of Vivaldi's concertos for solo keyboard.Vivaldi was almost forgotten after his death, his works were rediscovered toward the end of the 19th century through Bach’s transcriptions.Vivaldi’s popularity grew steadily during the late 20th century.



24 Caprices and Concertos by Nicolo paganini (1782-1840) 

Nicolo paganini who is considered by many as the greatest violinist ever lived was born in Genova, Italy. He started his violin lesson  at the age of seven and made his first public performance by twelve.  At the age of twenty three he became director of music to Napoleon's sister Elisa Baciocchi, Princess of Lucca. Paganini's Violin was a Guarnieri's violin called  " The Cannone" .  This was named by paganini himself because of the cannon like sound produced by the violin. His compositions included 24 caprices for unaccompanied violin . These are among the most difficult works written for violin. Paganini employed many tricks and techniques while playing like plucking the string with left hand (left-hand pizzicato),  bouncing the bow on the strings and extensive use of harmonics. Paganini was also a virtuoso guitarist.  He died of Cancer of Larynx in Nice on 27 May, 1840. 

Click on each for more information and buying music cdrom:
Paganini Caprices.    Paganini Concertos. 

Click  here  for sheet music of paganini caprices .
 Concerto No:1,  Concerto No:2

Virtual sheet music is violin sheet music which can be downloaded into your computer and printed if needed. This is highly recommended as it is very cheap . Click here  for Paganini Virtual sheet Music.



Violin Concerto in D major
by Ludwig Van Beethoven  (17 December 1770- 26 March 1827)

Beethoven was the most important composer of the romantic era and is considered by many as the most important composer in western classical music. His Violin Concerto in D major is one among the "4 great violin concertos". Beethoven violin concerto was written in 1806. His concerto was little performed in the following decades and was revived in the 1840s, well after Beethoven's death, with performances led by Felix Mendelssohn. Ever since it has been one of the most important works of the violin concerto repertoire, and it is frequently performed and recorded today. No violin cadenzas were written by Beethoven even though he wrote one piano version. Joseph Joachim, Fritz Kreisler and many other celebrated violinists wrote violin cadenzas. The cadenzas by Fritz Kreisler are most often used. Beethoven was a very important transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras of musical history. It was Beethoven who transformed symphony from the rigidly structured four-ordered-movements form to a fairly open ended form that can contain as many movements as necessary.

Click  here  for  Beethoven Violin Concerto in D major audio CD

Click here for sheet music of Beethoven violin concerto, here  for "cadenzas for Beethoven vioin concerto" by Joseph Joachim

Virtual sheet music is violin sheet music which can be downloaded into your computer and printed if needed. This is highly recommended as it is very cheap.  Click here  for Virtual sheet Music of Beethoven

"Ludwig van Beethoven: Major Works For Orchestra"  is a collection of all his major works for orchestra on a CDrom. This can be viewed in a computer and is printable.This include his D major concerto. Click here  for more information 



Concerto for violin in D major
by Johannes Brahms (May 7, 1833 – April 3, 1897)

Brahms’ concerto for violin in D major came out in 1878 and is considered as one among the "4 great violin concertos".  The work was dedicated to his friend Joseph Jaochim who was the leading violinist of that period.  As requested by Brahms, Joachim wrote the cadenza (solo part ).  Joachim’s cadenzas for the work are the most frequently used even though other famous violinists like Leopold Auer,  Fritz Kreisler, and George Enescu  have provided their own.

The solo part demanded extreme technical ability .  Henryk Wieniawski called the work "unplayable".  Violin virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate refused to play it because he felt the oboe played the only melody in the piece.  Initially only joseph Joachim and a few others had only attempted to play it,  but later on more and more violinists began playing it and by 1900 it had become one of the most frequently played of all violin concerti.

Click  for Brahms’ Concerto for violin in D major audio CD

Click here for sheet music of Brahms
 
Virtual sheet music is sheet music which can be downloaded into your computer and printed if needed. This is highly recommended as it is very cheap. Click J.Brahms: Concerto in D major  for virtual sheet music.

"Johannes Brahms: Major Works For Orchestra"  is a collection of all his major works for orchestra on a CDrom. This can be viewed in a computer and is printable. This includes his Violin Concerto in D Major.  Click here for more information.

music


Violin Concerto in E minor
by Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847)

Mendelssohn’s violin Concerto in E minor  written in 1844 is one among the “4 great violin concertos". Many violinists have started their solo careers with a performance of this concerto. Mendelssohn was second only to Mozart as a child prodigy.   Mendelssohn's music is special for its unsurpassed elegance and lyrical qualities. In 1829, at the age of 20, Mendelssohn conducted the first performance of the St. Matthew Passion since Bach's death nearly eighty years before and is responsible for the revival of interest in Bach in the 19th century.

At the age of 16 in 1825 he wrote his String Octet in E Flat Major, and In 1826 at the age of 17, he composed the Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, based on the Shakespeare's play. These are widely considered two of the most beautiful works of the Romantic period. These showcase his grasp of form, harmony, counterpoint, color and a great compositional technique. His (Symphony No. 3 in A minor), Known as Scottish Symphony was written in 1830 and revised several times between 1830 and 1842. This evokes Scotland's atmosphere in the culture of Romanticism, without the use of Scottish folk melodies. After a long period of oblivioin due to changing musical tastes, he has occupied his position amongst the most popular composers of the Romantic era.

He died in November 4, 1847, due to nervous problems and the depression he had developed soon after his beloved sister Fanny's demise that year.
 
click here for Mendelssohn’s violin Concerto in E minor.

Click here  for sheet music of  the concerto.

Virtual sheet music is sheet music which can be downloaded into your computer and printed if needed. This is highly recommended as it is very cheap. Click here for Virtual sheet Music of Mendelssohn’s violin concerto in E minor. 


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