Concerto No. 1 in A minor - Accolay

The Belgian violinist Jean Baptiste Accolay (1833 –1900) wrote the Concerto in A minor in 1868. This concerto has become a standard in the student literature. Accolay uses the full range of the violin in beautiful cantilenas and elegant passagework.

Technical requirements:
- Left hand: 1st to 5th position, sixteenth notes
- Right hand: détaché, legato, spiccato (optional)
- Note values: eighth notes, sixteenth notes, dotted rhythms, triplets

This one-movement concerto offers a good introduction to playing legato arpeggios across all four strings at a moderate tempo. The melodies are excellent study material for sound quality, vibrato, and phrasing with bow speed. The sixteenth note passages are not difficult and not too fast for this level but require good memorization and concentration.

The series “Bärenreiter’s Concert Pieces” is edited by Kurt Sassmannshaus, the internationally-renowned violin teacher and co-author of the violin method “Early Start on the Violin” (BA09676-BA09679). This concerto requires completion of all four volumes of the Sassmannshaus violin method.

The edition contains a solo violin part and a piano reduction for the accompanying pianist.