Seitz Student Concerto No. 4 Op. 15 for Violin and String Orchestra

Seitz's Student Concerto No. 4 in D major, Op. 15 is one of the most comprehensive pieces in the pedagogical violin repertoire: a full three-movement concerto that covers a wide range of technical demands within music that is genuinely engaging to play and to hear. This arrangement replaces the original piano accompaniment with a string orchestra, built from Seitz's piano score using his harmonic structure as the basis and rewriting the textures for strings throughout.

The solo part has a bit of everything. Rapid left-hand figurations run through the outer movements — scales, arpeggios, fast passage work that asks for clean finger action and secure intonation at speed. Up-bow staccato appears across the concerto, which is one of the more demanding bow techniques at this level and takes real control to produce cleanly. The slow movement provides contrast: sustained, lyrical playing that asks for tone production and expressive shaping. For a teacher looking for repertoire that stretches a Grade 6–7 player technically without limiting itself to one area, this concerto covers more ground than most single pieces at the grade.

The string orchestra accompaniment is built to support the soloist throughout. The harmonic intent of Seitz's piano writing is preserved, with the inner spacings and textures rewritten to use what a string ensemble does naturally, and the solo violin always sits in front of the texture.

At 12 minutes across three movements, this is a substantial commitment in rehearsal time, but it's justified by what the concerto asks. It's long enough to give a young soloist a genuine concerto experience and varied enough to hold an audience across all three movements.

See and hear the difference

Check the score and parts preview images above, then watch the complete score video below. They'll give you a clear picture of the engraving quality and overall difficulty before you buy.

Key features

• Instrumentation: Solo Violin + String Orchestra (Violin I, Violin II, Viola, Cello, Double Bass)
• Difficulty: approximately ABRSM Grade 6–7
• Duration: approximately 12 minutes
• Style focus: rapid left-hand figurations, up-bow staccato, lyrical cantabile
• Format: PDF download, full score and all parts

Who it's for

This suits violinists at Grade 6–7 who are ready for the experience of performing a full concerto with orchestral accompaniment. It works well as the centrepiece of a school or junior conservatoire concert, and the three-movement structure makes it a natural choice for any programme that needs a substantial solo vehicle. For teachers, it's one of the most useful pieces at the grade: the technical demands are broad enough to justify the time spent on it, and the music is strong enough that students will want to play it.