Which is more difficult Hayden G or Accolay?

July 26, 2005 at 09:09 PM · Umm, for my personal taste your son did the Accolay too soon if he's just starting that Seitz now, but that is not important.

The Accolay is harder than the Hayden to me technically, but some people might disagree. The Hayden is pretty typical stuff with some trickey bow crossings but the Accolay has really high notes, double stopps, etc. I'm working on Mendelssohn now, and I still very much respect the Accolay concerto for it's difficulty.

Just to be safe, why don't you contact the camp that you want to send him to and find out if they will accept the Accolay? In either case, its more important how well your child plays than what piece he plays, and I'm sure everybody will agree with me on that. He should play a piece that technically challenges him, but that he can play through well without struggling. He should know it backwards and forwards (not literally), but it should also push his abilities. If he auditions and doesn't get in, then he's not ready, (or there are some politics involved, but hopefully the former) and if he does get in, then the camp officials have an accurate idea of his abilities.

July 27, 2005 at 03:55 AM · The Accolay is harder. Although, the hardest part of classical music is the style. If you listen to the two you can tell that the Accolay is more challenging but the Haydn has its moments for sure and it calls for certain bowing technique.

I agree with Joseph. I don't know why a teacher would put the Accolay after a Seitz. After all, de Beriot wrote the A Minor under the pen name Accolay because he was ashamed of it, just to give you an idea of the level it is on. The piece itself is not as difficult as his concertos but it is a doosey.

Good luck!

July 27, 2005 at 11:13 AM · I, too, was surprised in the order: Accolay before Seitz.

I "finished" Accolay last winter. I really enjoyed it. I bought the Haydn G Major concerto, but then my teacher changed her mind and said that Mozart 4 was for me. I don't know which is harder, honestly, but I thought if you knew that my teacher was going to do Haydn next, you would see what she thought was harder...maybe(?)

July 27, 2005 at 01:02 PM · Thank you all for your input. Regarding Accolay before seitz, his teacher was going to let him learn viotti No. 23, then she said although seitz No. 3 is not so difficult, she wanted him to learn just the first movement of it because of one section involving virtuoso bowing (she said that to make my son get more interested, I think. He just turned 9.) which requires very fast string crossing. I have another question. At his level, what other pieces do you think is appropriate to learn? I thought one of Kreisler pieces might get him excited since he's listened to them often. Do you think they are too difficult for him at this point? Any suggestions will be appreciated. I will definitely discuss with his teacher. It's been hard without her this summer. Like many other teachers she's been away for several summer festivals.

July 27, 2005 at 09:07 PM · I'd personally say that the haydn is tougher than the accolay, but i basically did them simultaneously.

When your son has the Viotti, he'll be set. it's tougher than the haydn, as far as i remember.

August 13, 2005 at 09:48 AM · I'd say that the hadyn is harder in terms of bowing and technical difficulty. Personally, the most challenging aspect of Accolay was the higher notes.

August 13, 2005 at 12:58 PM · I'd skip the Haydn altogether and get him to do Mozart 3 in G because it's standard challenging repertoire that he will need to play again and again if he chooses music a career. If he's done the Accolay (A minor) he'll manage the Mozart.

August 13, 2005 at 01:58 PM · I did Mozart 3 after the Accolay too and it wasn't that hard

August 13, 2005 at 04:35 PM · Hi everyone. I contacted Ms.Zweig at IU string academy. Her response was there is no ristrictions in a piece we choose for audition tape. Since we still have a whole year, I just wait and see what my son is going to play for the audition tape. BTW, his teacher finally came back and we had a first lesson last week. I was so happy to see her!(If you can imagine:)) My son will start Viotti No. 23. Considering his age, she said she wanted to wait to play Bach, Beethoven and Morzart, etc., for now because it requires so much emotion and maturity to do the pieces justice. We will focus on his technical development first and foremost for now. So for now, he'll do a lot of scales, Mazas and Kreutzer! I hope he'll have fun:P

September 24, 2005 at 04:31 AM · Our son is 9, and he is playing Accolay concerto arranged by George Perlman. It is a very technical piece, and our son's teacher warned him that it would take some time to get it right. He played Bach's double violin concerto before this and though he "passed it" for now, as you had mentioned in your email, his teacher wants to come back to it after some time because she thinks he is not old enough to express all the needed emotions. It is reassuring after reading your email.

September 24, 2005 at 11:49 AM · I kind of taught Accolay to myself. I started after I had learned the Bach A minor and La Folia and one of the Handel Sonatas. It was fairly easy to play accolay after learning this repertoire, and I was able to polish it up over a long weekend. I would recommend your son looking into doing a Handel Sonata and maybe Bach A minor before Accolay, La Folia, in my teacher's opinion is harder than all the mozarts, but it would be a great piece for your son to do at a later time. Good luck!