The 8 Best Violin Duos

Violin duos and duets are a brilliant part of the chamber music repertory. This is the first article in a two-part series based on violin duos and duets. In this article you will find the top 8 violin duos or collections of violin duos.

The main difference between a violin duo and a violin duet is that the former is for two solo violins only and the latter has added accompaniment, usually an orchestra or continuo.

There are several different types of duos and duets in classical music; you can have violin-viola, violin-cello, viola-cello, and many other variations with different instrument families.

Even with all of the available varieties, instrumental duos are rather rare: they are under-played, under-recorded, and quite under-appreciated.

The solo violin-violin duo repertory is relatively small. That said, this form rose in popularity in the twentieth century as composers began to compose chamber music for much smaller ensembles.

A reason for this is that with two significant world wars, many musicians were either off fighting or were casualties of war.

Since they are composed in the twentieth, many of the violin duos on this list by composers like Honegger, Bartók, and Prokofiev are more harmonically and structurally experimental than the standard concert fare.

This list contains some classic violin duos as well as some pieces that you hopefully are not as familiar with. It is my hope that you can come to love this fantastic and underappreciated branch of art music.

1. Béla Bartók: 44 Duos for violin (1931)

This series of 44 duos were not intended for concert performance. Rather, Bartók composed them for pedagogical use by violin students. Erich Doflein, a German violin teacher, commissioned the works, which were published in four books.

Like many of Bartók’s works, many of these duos are based on Eastern European dances collected from his work as an ethnomusicologist.

The duos feature many more harmonic dissonances than most student works and thus provide a good introduction to modern music for many young musicians.

2. Charles Auguste de Bériot: Grand Duo Concertante (1847)

The Grand Duo Concertante is actually a collection of three concert duos for two violins by the prolific Belgian Romantic composer and violinist de Bériot.

They are fantastic pieces and wonderfully written. It is amazing how orchestral and full de Bériot can make two violins sound. These Concertante are intended for the stage and fortunately they are still quite often played.

Here is a recording of the first Duo by Liviu Prunaru and Gabriel Croitoru from 2011:

3. Arthur Honegger: Sonatine pour deux violons (1920)

This short piece is rather experimental and not often performed. It is possible that French composer Arthur Honegger’s piece has never been professionally recorded.

However, it is included on this list because within those three movements there are moments of such stunning clarity and beauty, despite the complexity and difficulty of the overall material.

Though it may push the boundaries of what you are comfortable with, I urge you to give it a listen here:

4. Sergei Prokofiev: Sonata for two violins in C (1932)

This is Prokofiev’s response to what he felt was a poorly written violin sonata. Rich in thematic material, this work features four vastly different movements.

The first, Andante cantabile, begins with an ethereal theme, which is recounted in the more vivacious fourth movement. The second movement is intense and rhythmic in character, which is highly contrasted by the lyrical and beautiful third.

5. Max Reger: Drei Canons und Fugen im alten Stil für 2 Violinen (1914)

This is a set of three canons and fugues for two solo violins by German composer Max Reger. Though written in the twentieth century, the influence of J. S. Bach is very apparent in these works.

The second canon and fugue is written in D minor, just like Bach’s Concerto for 2 Violins, and it begins with a direct quotation of Bach’s first movement.

Though Reger’s works are generally retrospective of the Baroque period, there are still experimental elements from the twentieth century. This makes for quite an exciting fusion of styles.

6. Georg Philip Telemann: 6 Canonical Sonatas (1727)

Telemann’s 6 Canonical Sonatas are a popular piece for many different types of instrumentalists. Telemann himself wrote the piece for either two violins or two recorders. Since then, these sonatas have been published for almost any instrument combination.

You will often find in earlier music that treble instruments are used in different combinations.

This is for several reasons: it was often difficult to find specific performance forces, so different instrumentalists had to “make do”; and it was not until later that composers became preoccupied with specific timbres from particular instruments. This was certainly a much simpler time in music!

Here is the first Canonical Sonata played by two oboes:

7. Henryk Wieniawski: Études-Caprices for two Violins (1862)

Eugène Ysaÿe: Duo Sonata (1915)The Études-Caprices for two violins are a series of 8 etudes, or studies, for violin accompanied by another.

The etudes are a good pedagogical tool because they allow for a teacher to play along with the student on either part.

Thus, they are different from the other collections on the list because the violin parts are not weighted equally.

That said, even though they are intended as studies, like the Bartók duos, they are still wonderful to listen to and stand on their own quite well!

8. Eugène Ysaÿe: Duo Sonata (1915)

This duo violin sonata by the Belgian composer Ysaÿe is a beautifully crafted, virtuosic piece written for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. It is not clear whether this piece was ever performed in public during his lifetime.

The work features many styles, including late Romanticism, Impressionism, and Expressionism. This leads to many stunning and moving harmonies – a wonderful piece for sure!