Its true that music from the Classical and Baroque era brought worldwide fame to violin, but there are several modern pop and rock songs as well that sound awesome when played on the violin. Some of the world’s best violin music was written by composers including Vivaldi, Vaughan Williams, Mozart, Haydn, and more.
Have played the violin or the viola when you were young? Perhaps its time to start playing again. Because these resources/videos are surely going to inspire you to do that.
Here, we’ve listed the best violin songs that sound amazing and also showcases the versatility of the instrument.
The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi
The Four Seasons is a group of four violin concerti by Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi, each for one season of the year. They were written along with eight additional violin concerti, as Il cimento dell’armonia e dell’inventione (“Contest Between Harmony and Invention”).
Bach’s Chaconne
When you are making a list of the best violin songs, it has to include Bach. The fifth movement of Bach’s Partita No. 2 in D minor is one of the best violin songs of all time.
This piece is part of the “Sei Solo” collection, which means “Six Solos” in Italian. Bach composed these pieces in the months after the death of his wife (so basically he was trying to express that “he was are alone”). Bach used double stops (playing two strings at once) to indicate as if there was another violin performer. This fact makes this astounding work even more moving.
The Lark Ascending (Vaughan Williams)
Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “The Lark Ascending” sounds a bit contemporary-classical and is inspired by a George Meredith poem.
Best Classical Music
Stringfever: History of Music in Five Minutes
Stringfever, is a quartet with a difference. Skeletal electric strings played by world class musicians. Hear the industry’s favorite melodies and guitar riff’s played by the best. The video features a nice mix of songs from various genres.
I take no credit for this listing (right or wrong), as I found it at http://mengwong.livejournal.com/29564.html but as far as I can tell it looks pretty accurate.
00:00 Traditional – Greensleeves
00:20 Handel – Messiah – Hallelujah chorus
00:25 Mozart – Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
00:31 Beethoven – Symphony No. 9 – “Ode to Joy”
00:42 Rossini – William Tell Overture
00:48 Puccini – Turandot – Nessun Dorma
01:05 Bach – Prelude in C Major
01:15 Beethoven – Symphony No. 5
01:23 Strauss – Also Sprach Zarathustra
01:35 Offenbach – Orpheus in the Underworld (Can-Can)
01:40 Bizet – Carmen – Torreador Song
01:46 Brahms – Hungarian Dance #5 (in F#m)
01:51 Tchaikovsky – Nutcracker Suite – Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairies
01:59 Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite – In the Hall of the Mountain King
02:05 Rimsky-Korsakov – Flight of the Bumblebee (underneath Peer Gynt Suite)
02:10 Monty Norman – The James Bond Theme
02:15 Grieg – Peer Gynt Suite – In the Hall of the Mountain King (reprise)
02:22 Scott Joplin – The Entertainer
02:28 Brown / Freed – Singin’ In The Rain
02:35 Rogers & Hammerstein – Sound of Music – Do Re Mi
02:46 Irving Berlin – Annie Get Your Gun – There’s No Business Like Show Business
02:54 ?????????
02:58 George Gershwin – Porgy & Bess – Summertime
03:10 Glen Miller – In The Mood
03:22 Kander / Ebb – New York, New York
03:28 Elvis Presley – Hound Dog
03:41 Roy Orbison – Pretty Woman
03:58 McCartney / Lennon – Yesterday
04:08 James Brown – I Feel Good
04:10 The Bee Gees – Stayin’ Alive
04:19 Oompa Loompa song from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
04:22 Abba – Money, Money, Money
04:33 Queen – Another One Bites The Dust
04:42 Eric Clapton – Layla
04:48 Michael Jackson – Billy Jean
04:55 Deep Purple – Smoke On The Water
05:02 John Williams – Theme from Jaws
05:08 Bernard Herrmann – Knife Scene from Hitchcock’s Psycho
05:18 Wagner – Ride of the Valkyries (poss. Apocalypse Now reference?)
05:21 Jerrold Immel – Theme to Dallas
05:24 Thomas Augustine Arne – Rule Brittania
05:26 Traditional – Sailor’s Hornpipe
05:27 Traditional – Shave And A Haircut (poss. Warner Bros cartoons reference? Looney Tunes?)
05:29 Wagner – Lohengrin – Wedding Chorus
Whether you’re a student or a teacher or a performer, these violin classics will stay with you forever.
External Links
Hardest pieces ever written for the VIOLIN
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