The compositions of Paganini are redolent with merit--novelty in ideas, elegance of form, richness of harmony, and variety in the effects of instrumentation. These qualities are especially found in his concertos, which have exercised great influence on compositions of this nature that have subsequently been published. They differ in form in many points from the classic form of Viotti’s concertos. There is the merit of uniformity and increasing interest, which it were well all violinists would meditate upon. In general, without diverting attention from the solo by over-elaborated passages, the instrumentation possessed an interest which cannot be separated from the principal design. The _entrées_ are neither cold nor symmetrical--the effects new and varied.
The first concerto is in E flat, set for the orchestra, but the Violin is written in D; the four strings of the instrument are consequently tuned a semitone higher. The tutti, admirably written, is bold and flowing, and very effective. The forms remind one generally of those of the old concerto, more than of those Paganini wrote since, this being his first. I have an indistinct recollection of his having composed this one in 1811. There is little originality in the style of the tutti and the solos; but in the details, and above all, in the brilliant passages, there are certain points which render this concerto a work of the greatest interest; there is frequent employment of double notes and harmonics. The second solo presents effects on the fourth string, of which effects Paganini is the inventor. It terminates with the last passage of the first solo transposed into the original key.
The adagio (in C minor) is a dialogue between the fourth string and the other three. The conception of this dialogue appears to have absorbed all the artist’s attention, for the melody has little novelty. This is not the case with the rondo--the theme of which is peculiarly original. There is an extraordinary staccato passage, which Paganini executed in a novel manner, peculiar to himself. It is necessary to understand the method to give this passage its original character. It is in this rondo that Paganini employed, for the first time, tenths, combined in various ways, producing wonderful effects, by the unerring and marvellous certainty of his mechanism. The character of the piece is bold: the second solo, nearly all on the fourth string and in harmonics, produced an extraordinary sensation, nothing similar having been heard prior to its introduction.