What Are The Best Recordings Of Friedrich Seitz Violin Concertos?

I still get a warm little thrill when a student brings me one of those pleasant, old-fashioned violin concertos on their music stand. Friedrich Seitz (1848–1918) was a German violinist and composer whose name lives on mostly through a set of bite-sized, lyrical concertos written for advancing pupils. He wasn’t trying to revolutionize music; he wrote carefully crafted pieces that bridge the gap between études and full-fledged virtuoso concertos. The most commonly encountered are the so-called 'Studenten-Konzerte' or 'Student Concertos'—a series of short concertos (commonly numbered as Nos. 1–8) that are melodically charming, technically graded, and perfect for teaching phrasing, shifting, and simple double stops. Beyond those student concertos, Seitz produced salon pieces, character pieces and other pedagogical works for violin and piano, plus some chamber music. His music has that late-Romantic warmth without the hair-raising difficulty of the big concertos, which is why teachers and exam boards have used his pieces for generations. If you’re exploring repertoire for intermediate students, try the popular ones often listed as Concerto No. 2 in G major and No. 5 in D major—beautiful, singable, and rewarding to polish. For me, polishing one of these concerts with a pupil is a satisfying lesson in musicality: we work technical bits, shape the phrases, and end up with something that feels like a miniature story rather than a mere exercise.

Oh, absolutely — YouTube is basically overflowing with performances of Friedrich Seitz's violin concertos, especially the ones people usually call the 'Student Concertos'. I get a little giddy whenever I search because you find everything from polished studio uploads to rough-but-adorable conservatory recitals. If you want a quick hunt, type things like 'Seitz violin concerto', 'Seitz concerto No. 5', or 'Seitz student concerto with orchestra' and then filter by view count or by playlists. You'll notice patterns: a lot of the videos are pedagogical — student recitals, contest performances, and teacher masterclasses. That’s actually a plus, because you can hear a wide range of interpretations and technical approaches. Some uploads are full orchestra-backed recordings while others are piano reductions, and the difference is interesting: piano-accompanied versions often reveal phrasing choices more clearly, while orchestral ones give you the full concert feeling. Personally, I treat YouTube like a listening lab. I’ll queue a handful of performances, watch one for tone choices, another for tempo, and another to hear how different players handle the cadenzas. If you want higher production value, try filtering for uploads by conservatories or channels labeled 'studio' or 'recording'; if you want charm and learning moments, search for 'recital' or 'masterclass' alongside Seitz. Enjoy digging — there's a surprising amount of heart in these pieces, and they grow on you fast.

I used to hum a few bars of those student concertos between lessons, and over time I realized how quietly revolutionary they are for violin teaching. Friedrich Seitz wrote a set of 'Student Concertos' that feel simple on the surface but are designed to teach students how to behave like soloists—phrasing, simple shifts, tasteful bow distribution and working with an orchestral reduction. Historically, his pieces arrived at a moment when teachers wanted more musical, playable repertoire for developing players, so instead of endless etudes you got little concertos that demand musical decisions. Pedagogically, Seitz sits in the sweet spot between technical studies and full-blown concertos. Teachers often use his 'Student Concerto No. 1' and its siblings as a bridge: they introduce concerto form, cadenzas, and stage etiquette without the fierce technical barrier of a Mozart or a Bruch. That means young players learn to breathe with long melodies, manage bow speed for sustained lines, and negotiate basic double-stops and shifting in a musical context rather than as isolated exercises. For me, that shift from exercise to music is where real learning sticks. Of course, not everyone loves Seitz—some colleagues find the pieces overly sentimental or too formulaic. I think their value depends on how a teacher frames them. Used creatively, they teach ensemble awareness (playing with an orchestral piano reduction), articulation variety, and a sense of proportion. When I prepare students for recitals, I still pull out a Seitz concerto occasionally: it builds confidence and gets audiences listening to phrasing before fireworks take over.

I get a little giddy whenever someone asks about digging into Friedrich Seitz — his student concertos are like a secret back-alley of the violin world where structure meets pedagogical sparkle. If you want movement-by-movement analysis, start with IMSLP: you'll find free scores for many of Seitz's student concertos (look up the set often listed as 'Student Concerto No. 1–8' or individual pieces like 'Student Concerto No. 5'). Having the score beside a recording is the fastest way to see how themes are handed between soloist and orchestra, and to annotate form (exposition, development, recapitulation, cadenzas) right on the page. For listening and guided breakdowns, check YouTube for violin teachers and conservatory masterclasses — channels that slow down phrases, show fingerings, and point out shifts in harmony are gold. Pair that with Naxos or ArkivMusic album notes; many recordings include program notes that sketch each movement's structure and thematic material. If you're into deeper theoretical reading, Google Scholar, JSTOR, and university repositories sometimes host analyses or dissertations that reference Seitz in the context of 19th-century pedagogy. Hands-on approach: import a recording into Sonic Visualiser or Audacity, loop tricky passages, and use MuseScore to follow along with the printed part. Ask around on violin forums (like subreddit communities or specialist mailing lists) — players often share their own movement analyses and practice cadenzas. For the nerdy part, try sketching a harmonic reduction and labeling formal sections; it turns abstract ‘pretty tune’ into a map you can follow during practice.

Hunting for Friedrich Seitz concertos is like chasing down a little slice of violin-student history — and I love that about it. If you want quick access, my first stop is always the Petrucci Music Library (IMSLP). Seitz lived long enough that most of his student concertos are in the public domain, so you can usually download clean PDFs of violin parts, piano reductions, and occasionally orchestral parts. It’s free, reliable, and great when you need something at practice tonight. If you prefer printed music or a specific edition, Shop stores like Sheet Music Plus, JW Pepper, and Amazon often carry modern reprints or compiled volumes of Seitz’s student concertos. Look for editions from well-known publishers (Edition Peters sometimes has similar student repertoire; International Music Company and other specialty publishers might offer nicer-looking copies). For performances with orchestra you might need to rent parts — local music rental houses or university libraries can help with that, and interlibrary loan has saved me more than once when a hardbound score was needed for a recital. A couple of practical tips: always check whether the item is a violin-piano reduction (the usual practice version) or full orchestral parts, and scan the preview pages where available so you can see editorial fingerings and bowings. If you’re teaching or performing, consider buying both the student edition and a more scholarly edition, because fingerings vary. If you’d like, I can tell you which concerto numbers are easiest for beginner-intermediate players — I’ve collected a few editions over the years and love comparing them.

Honestly, when I sit down with a tricky Friedrich Seitz passage I start like I'm dissecting a puzzle rather than attacking a race. Those student concertos are deceptively musical but full of technical traps — fast string crossings, broken chords, sudden shifts into higher positions, and graceful double stops. My first move is always to slow everything down to an absurd crawl: left hand ready on the string, bow arm finding comfortable distribution. I’ll play the passage using only down-bows or only on the A string if it helps isolate problems, and I’ll hum the line to lock the phrasing in my ear. Next, I chop the passage into tiny, repeatable units. Instead of running through bar 12–16, I’ll take two beats, then four beats, then rebuild. Rhythmic variation is my secret weapon — long-short patterns, dotted rhythms, and reverse rhythms expose weak transitions and force control. For shifting, I practice the shift silently on the fingerboard without bow, feeling the knuckle, the slide, and the landing point. Double stops get additional love: I set a drone on the lower note and tune the upper with slow glissando practice until both are stable. Tools matter too: a metronome that I crank up in tiny increments, a cheap mirror to spot excess arm motion, and slow recordings of better players I admire. I also sprinkle in technical studies — a few fingering drills from 'Kreutzer' or 'Ševčík' to strengthen a stubborn finger pattern — but I always return to musical context: phrasing, dynamics, and a sense of pulse. It’s not just about speed; it’s about making the fast parts sound inevitable, like conversational flourishes rather than showy stunts.

I’ve been bitten by the little-known-works bug more than once, and Friedrich Seitz’s student concertos are exactly the kind of thing I happily obsess over. I first stumbled on them while scrolling through playlists labeled 'student violin concertos' and was surprised to hear full, modern studio recordings rather than just conservatory bootlegs. In the last decade or so, a handful of modern releases — mostly on budget-friendly labels and streaming platforms — have started treating Seitz’s Nos. 1–3 as proper mini-concertos. Look for compilations titled something like 'Seitz: Student Concertos' or the broader 'Student Violin Concertos' collections on labels such as Naxos and Brilliant Classics; those labels routinely put together albums that include Seitz alongside the likes of Accolay and Mazas. If you prefer a more curator-y approach, independent and boutique labels and young competition winners often release single-artist EPs of these pieces on Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube. I enjoy comparing a clean studio recording with a live conservatory performance — the studio version usually gives you a nicer bow articulation and balanced orchestra, while the live clips capture teaching-room energy and small tempo quirks. Also, don’t forget to check IMSLP for scores if you want to follow along: many modern performers upload their recordings to YouTube with score sync. For a listening plan, I’d start with a polished compilation to get the tunes in your head, then hunt down a couple of contrasting performances (piano reduction vs. chamber orchestra) so you can hear different stylistic choices. It’s a fun rabbit hole and a great way to appreciate how even study pieces can get lovingly revived today.

If you’re curious about where Friedrich Seitz’s violin music fits on a student’s path, I’d put it somewhere in that sweet spot between late-beginner and early-intermediate. Seitz’s student concertos are purposely melodic and pedagogical: they sound like little concertos, so they give you a taste of concerto shape without asking for crazy technique. Most movements stay largely in first position, with occasional simple shifts into third, straightforward two-note double stops, and bowing patterns that build control—detaché, simple slurs, and light off-the-string strokes show up but nothing extreme. In practical terms, think of a student who can play tunes in tune, has a reasonably steady bow arm, and can manage basic rhythm and left-hand coordination. What I always loved about these pieces is how they encourage musical phrasing early on. They force a player to shape longer lines and to play with an ensemble feel when the piano or orchestra comes in. If you’re picking repertoire, try treating a Seitz movement as a bridge between scale/etude work and bigger concertos: use slower metronome practice for shifts, practice double stops separately, and work with a piano part early so you learn to breathe in the right places. They’re forgiving enough to be fun, but just demanding enough to be really satisfying to master.