Violin excerpt · Audition repertoire
Strauss, Don Juan, Op. 20
The most requested violin excerpt in the orchestral repertoire. A headlong ascending gesture that has to sound both brilliant and completely controlled from the first note.
At a glance
- Instrument
- Violin
- Composer
- Richard Strauss
- Work
- Don Juan, Op. 20
- Era
- Late-Romantic (c. 1880–1910)
- Composed
- 1888
- Tempo
- Allegro molto con brio
- Clef
- Treble clef
- Level
- Audition, professional standard
- Audition list
- Yes, standard excerpt
How to practise it
The bow style, the trouble spots, and the stylistic decisions that come up most often on this excerpt.
Bowing
Broad, on-string strokes rather than anything bouncing, the character is heroic, and a light stroke reads as timid here.
Where it goes wrong
The opening leap is almost always rushed. Panels listen for whether the first bar has the same rhythmic integrity as the fifth.
Intonation in the ascending passagework is exposed because the whole section plays it together; small errors are audible as a smeared chord rather than a wrong note.
Style
Brilliance comes from bow speed and contact point, not from pressure. Forcing the sound is the most common way this excerpt goes wrong.
Tags
Work on the technique underneath
Arco's violin curriculum builds the bow strokes, positions, and clef reading this excerpt assumes, with recorded violin playback throughout.