10 Greatest Violin Concertos (And the Most Popular Performance of Each)
by Emily E. Hogstad Composers have been writing violin concertos since the beginning of the eighteenth century. Over the next three centuries, composers created thousands of violin concertos. Most have since fallen into obscurity…but a handful have demonstrated their enduring appeal to both musicians and audiences. © medium.com Although it’s a fool’s errand to make an objective list of the ten greatest violin concertos, we’re taking a shot at making a subjective one. So here’s our list of the ten greatest violin concertos, a brief overview of what makes each one so appealing, and a link to the most popular YouTube performance of each concerto. 10. J.S. Bach: Violin Concerto No. 1 (c. 1720) Johann Sebastian Bach’s first violin concerto likely dates from around 1720, when Bach was employed by Prince Leopold of Anhalt-Köthen. While working for Leopold, he wrote more instrumental secular music than religious music. One of the pieces dating from this time was this v...