Violin Concerto

The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77, was composed by Johannes Brahms in 1878 and dedicated to his friend, the violinist Joseph Joachim. It is Brahms's only violin concerto, and, according to Joachim, one of the four great German violin concerti: Instrumentation The Violin Concerto is scored for solo violin and orchestra consisting of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons; 2 natural horns crooked in D, and 2 natural horns crooked in E, 2 trumpets in D, timpani, and strings. Despite Brahms's scoring for natural (non-valved) horns in his orchestral works, valved horns have always been used in actual performance, even in Brahms's time. Structure The concerto follows the standard concerto form, with three movements in the pattern quick–slow–quick: