Be sure to play the correct rhythm in the tremolo starting in bar 22: the harmony changes on the first quarter note, then again on the next two eighth notes, and from then on it changes on quarter notes. The trill in bar 25 has a little 16th-note “tag.” Lift the bow off the string after that note to create more tension for the following short fermata rest. In the little cadenza in bar 27, I suggest playing the D’s that follow the harmonics with the fourth finger, to make sure they speak well after the harmonics.

In the final two bars you slowly begin facing your audience again and, gaining strength, you say: “I will come back! This is not the end!”

Then, without further ado and without break (attacca) you dive into the bubbly Scherzo in F major, wiping away the dark and gloomy atmosphere of the Recitativo.

Shall We Dance?

Throughout the Recitativo the bow mostly remained on the string and we used legato, detache, and portato strokes. Things change drastically when we get to the Scherzo. Here the bow rarely stops dancing and bouncing. We use mainly spiccato and ricochet strokes, occasionally energetic short detache strokes. Try playing all of these strokes with different parts of the bow, depending on the character and the dynamics you want.

Kreisler is quite meticulous in his notation of articulation and dynamics. It pays to study his use of dots, dashes, accents, sforzati, and so on. Soft dynamics generally have dots, loud dynamics have either dashes or nothing marked.

It is fun to experiment with slow transformation of strokes as the dynamics change (gradually becoming broader in crescendo and smaller in diminuendo).

The notes in the pesante (heavy) passage in fortissimo should be quite sustained (see Example 1). Try to keep all three voices of each chord ringing and make the gaps between the repeated down bows as small as possible.

Example 2, the passage in which the ricochet strokes alternate with left-hand pizzicato (marked +), is a little tricky. It helps to give the up-bow quarter note a little accent.

Example 3 looks more complicated than it actually is. Play the moving line against the open A string, first on the D string in bars 30 and 31 and then on the E string in bar 32.

The same pattern appears in Example 4, beginning in bar 79. This time the moving line is played on the A string against the open E string.

Be sure to place your fingers on the A string at a steep angle to give the open E string room to resonate.

In Example 5a, at measure 99, we switch from the E harmonic (played on the A string against the open E) to regular octaves (played with fingers 1 and 3), and then dive into a breathtaking octave glissando.

Try to achieve a smooth glissando in the left hand while the bow continues in spiccato.

Start practicing this spot as noted in Example 5b, counting whole bars. Once your left hand knows the speed of the glissando, adding the spiccato will be a piece of cake.

Example 6 represents the end of the piece (measures 147 to 154). Note that it says “senza accel.”—without getting faster.

Resist the temptation to speed up. Otherwise the ticket will come in the form of missed harmonics (been there, done that!).

The two pizzicato chords, the first one forte, the second one piano, put an elegant finish to a dazzling solo violin piece.

I very much enjoy playing this gem as an encore after having performed a violin concerto with orchestra. A true “thank you” á la Kreisler.