Vol 4

Concerto in A Minor, 3rd Movement, Vivaldi – Part 2

In my previous post about the 3rd movement of Vivaldi’s Concerto in A Minor, I ventured that it is more challenging than the 1st movement because of the quick tempo and the tricky arpeggio section on page 2. In this post we finish our climb to the top, examining the arpeggio section in detail – the key problems and the strategies for overcoming them.

But before we go there, I want to tell a little story behind the edition of this concerto in Suzuki’s Volume IV. Years ago, listening to the 3rd movement on Swiss Classic Radio, I was surprised to hear Itzhak Perlman play a completely different arpeggio section than the version I had studied. It sounded easier. A bit of research revealed that Suzuki and many teachers of his time used an arrangement by Hungarian violinist Tivadar Nachéz (1859-1930). Nachéz, who lived most of his life in London, was also a composer and arranger. He added a piano accompaniment to his edition of the concerto, perhaps the reason it became so widely accepted.

Predictably, there has been controversy since about which version is the correct one to study and play. Laurie Niles, founder of the excellent site violinist.com picks this up in her article on the piece here.

Improving the Hard Bits

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Concerto in A Minor by Vivaldi, 1st Movement – Part 1

When I first came across the Suzuki Method in the 1970’s, the Concerto in A Minor by Vivaldi was the golden goal of all young Suzuki violin students in the city where I lived. The concerto was idolised as the first ‘real’ music in the repertoire, played by professional violinists around the world. This iconic Volume 4 piece was the acme of achievement, the first one using higher positions – and played with an orchestra! I’m sure Antonio Vivaldi, who taught violin to children in the Pio Ospedale della Pietà orphanage in Venice, would be delighted with his concerto’s popularity among today’s young violinists.

Successive generations of Suzuki students have set their sights on higher and higher musical goals, but it has retained its attraction. I still love to teach and play this delightful evergreen piece. Unless you’ve become jaded by too much morning FM baroque radio, I sense we all like it, as everyone has since it was written in 1711 by the extraordinarily prolific Vivaldi, known as il Prete Rosso (The Red Priest) for his dashing red hair. Opus 3 No 6, RV 356 is kind on the ear and on the fingers – agreeable to listen to and relatively easy to play. This post is Part 1.

The Main Study Points

In a nutshell, the key points or technical challenges to study are:

• The Solo section in bars 24-27. Learn this semiquaver (16th) section one bar at a time.
• The Big Shift up to high D in bars 27 and 28. Three steps to a successful shift.
• Those tricky notes in bars 33 and 34. The secret is… 2nd finger.
• Bars 65-67 on page 3. This innocuous looking passage is hard to memorize and play with correct bows. Why? Read More →

How to Teach Seitz Concerto No 2, 3rd Movement

When I first began teaching the three Seitz concertos in Suzuki’s Book IV, I was curious about the composer. My thoughts were something like this: the music’s got a 19th century flavour, and these little concerto movements feature a surprising variety of styles and techniques. They are attractive and easy to play – ideal for student violinists. Who is F Seitz?

Fritz Seitz

He was hard to track down in those days, but now you can find him in Wikipedia. Fritz (Friedrich) Seitz (born in Thuringia, Germany in 1848 – died 1918) was a concertmaster violinist who wrote chamber music as well as the eight student violin concertos. Now, many years later, I’ve taught this piece and the other two countless times. I still love it. And Concerto No. 2 still makes a great solo showpiece for little violinists. Here’s the points I teach. If you are a parent or student, listen often to the recordings before starting to learn and memorize.

Concerto No 2, 3rd Movement by Seitz

Main study points

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