When I first started arranging for solo violin as a junior in college, I had no prior experience in composition. My technique and interpretation skills on the violin were much more limited compared to now. But above all, I had no idea how much this art form would go on to shape my path and growth as an artist, my relationship with my instrument, and my understanding of composers - those who wrote for the violin and those who did not.
The first solo violin arrangement I discovered - Heinrich Ernst's Grand Caprice on Schubert’s Der Erlkönig - left my jaw hanging open in utter shock on a first listen. I was thirteen back then, and was unfamiliar with the original Schubert song that the piece was based on, yet I knew it was the most epic thing I had ever heard. After listening to the original, I was further amazed at how Ernst managed to take a voice line and its piano accompaniment, and expertly wove the two into one violin line.
Aside from immediately wanting to play it (took me years and still not even close to performance-level), the piece also got me curious about the genre itself - whether or not there were other arrangements like this.
Der Erlkönig : Telling a Ghost Story
Erlkönig was originally a poem by 19th-Century German writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, and is one of the most celebrated works of German Romanticism. The poem tells a simple but horrifying tale of a man riding late at night with his sick son, while an evil spirit, the titular Erlkönig or "elf-king," attempts to lure the child to his death. The dark and violent imagery, the elf-king's sweet temptations, the child's increasingly desperate cries, and the father's obliviousness to his son's imminent fate, all make for an unforgettable thriller that I still remember kept me up for many nights after reading it for the first time.
Erlkönig was popular even during Goethe's lifetime and was set to music by several composers, however it is the setting by Franz Schubert that remains the most memorable to this day. Schubert's setting is for voice and piano, using Goethe's original text, and is noteworthy for its unmistakable theatricality. The singer has to "act" as the narrator, father, child and the elf-king, with each role having specific musical characteristics (register, key/harmony) that develop as the story unfolds. The piano accompaniment's austere thundering triplets evoke images of both the running horse and the stormy night, and the penetrating chromaticism and harsh dissonances further highlight the horror.
Schubert's Der Erlkönig still remains a favorite among classical music lovers due to its dramatic and expressive quality, though the concept of a singer assuming multiple characters within one thorough-composed piece of music is undeniably a notable feature, both from a compositional standpoint, as well as from an audience's perspective.
Ernst's Der Erlkönig: The Violin as Storyteller
Violinist Heinrich Wilhelm Ernst arranged Schubert's Der Erlkönig for solo violin, which was published in 1854 as "Grand Caprice on Schubert’s Der Erlkönig." Ernst was a highly sought-out, remarkable virtuoso violinist during his time, and composed extremely challenging pieces that continue to be valuable additions to the violin repertoire. However, like most pieces written for unaccompanied solo violin before the 20th Century, it is most likely that his Der Erlkönig was never publicly performed during his lifetime, nor even intended for performance, but rather as a study for the performer. Nevertheless, his Der Erlkönig remains his most recognizable work.
Der Erlkönig is a unique and exciting choice to perform as a soloist, as the violinist not only has to perform both the voice and piano accompaniment at the same time, but also has to play multiple characters (narrator, father, son, elf king), just like the singer in the original. (One can even joke that the violin plays more roles than the singer, since the violin also has to play the "horse" (piano accompaniment) as well.) Although little evidence suggests that Ernst's Der Erlkönig was ever performed in public, the image of the violinist as both self-accompanying virtuoso and storyteller points to various possibilities in programming concerts for just one violin, and adds a new layer to the unaccompanied violin repertoire, which is mostly dominated by absolute/abstract music.
Solo Violin Arrangements - The Future of the Solo Violin Concert?
The dual role of musician and storyteller was a concept that greatly appealed to me from a programming standpoint. The problem? Somehow, Ernst's Der Erlkönig just happens to be one of the most infamously challenging pieces ever written for unaccompanied solo violin, to the point where the "playing multiple characters" concept barely even comes into question, due to how already outrageously difficult it is. The awkwardly twisted chords, the never-ending changes in finger positions at a cracking pace, and the unrelenting triplets all seem to scream "impossible." I vividly remember seeing measure 58 for the first time - two staves, like a piano score, instead of one - and slowly closing the score in silent disbelief.
I immediately knew that one day, I wanted to create my own solo violin arrangement. Despite not knowing how to compose, I wanted to add something that I could program alongside Bach and Paganini and Ysaÿe. I wanted to tell a story, play multiple characters, paint a scene, all with my violin alone.
Throughout my career, I have performed several concerts in venues where there was no piano, in which I would always include one of my original solo violin arrangements. I still think about Ernst's Der Erlkönig and the huge turning point it turned out to be for my career, and although I have never performed it in front of an audience, I still regularly come back to the score as a reference for my arrangements, both as a composer and a performer. I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case for other violinist-composers as well; it is such a cool and convincing arrangement. Technical difficulties aside, it will always be an icon in the solo violin repertoire.
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