The 19th century was a high time for public concerts, and that in turn created demand for music lessons. Music teachers in that era were mostly composers and performers themselves. They composed pedagogical pieces for their students, to be used as learning material and also for performance.

The violin concerto was one of the most-favoured genres in that era, and there were certainly some very well-written student concertos composed for the purpose of teaching. These pieces were often composed in keys that sounded more resonant on the violin (G major, D major, A minor etc.) and employed fingerings and bowings that are natural to the hands of violinists while retaining the virtuosic character of a concerto.

As violinists, we all dream of playing the great concertos of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and others. However, without proper intermediate-level repertoire to bridge the gap, young students attempting these challenging pieces too early may struggle and develop bad habits that hinder their progress. It is very important for teachers to be informed of these repertoires, and use them as a tool to help the students to develop their technique and musicality naturally.

The concertos listed below represent some of the student-level repertoire that are available to us. For more advanced repertoire, go to Violin Concertos for Pre-Advanced Students.