Violin Concerto No. 1 (Paganini)

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Niccolò Paganini composed his first violin concerto in Italy, most probably in 1817-1818. The First Concerto reveals that Paganini's technical wizardy was already full-fledged; in particular, contemporary audiences must have gasped at the quite extended passages of double-stop thirds, chromatic in some places but also sometimes in harmonics. Furthermore, the concerto itself also shows how greatly Paganini's melodic style was influenced by Italian bel canto opera then in vogue, and especially by the work of his younger colleague Gioacchino Rossini.

Paganini's first violin concerto is in three movements:

1. Allegro maestoso
2. Adagio
3. Rondo. Allegro spirituoso

[edit] Selected discography

• Paganini's Violin Concerto No. 1, coupled with Louis Spohr's Violin Concerto No. 8, both performed by Hilary Hahn with Eiji Oue conducting the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra (Deutsche Grammophon B0007188-2)