If we were all determined to play the first violin we should never have an ensemble. therefore, respect every musician in his proper place. Robert Schumann
It really now seemed very obvious that they had expected to hear some beautiful or entertaining violin playing but had been disappointed, that they had had enough of the whole performance and it was only now out of politeness that they allowed their peace to be disturbed.
It was really amazing. I mean, he'd never mentioned that he played in the symphony, like serious violin playing, not fiddle playing. And he just blew us away. Guy Clark
Let me be very honest and just say that if any airline would let me take the violin and the laptop on board I would fly that airline all the time. Lara St. John
Of course the most difficult thing on the violin is always intonation. The second one is rhythm. If you play in tune, in time with a good sound that's already high level. Those three are the main things. Ruggiero Ricci
She had let her hands drop and let violin and bow hang limply for a while but continued to look at the music as if still playing, but then she suddenly pulled herself together, lay the instrument on her mother's lap who still sat laboriously struggling for breath where she was, and ran into the next room which, under pressure from her father, the three gentlemen were more quickly moving toward.
Someone must have heard them in the kitchen, as Gregor's father called out: Is the playing perhaps unpleasant for the gentlemen? We can stop it straight away. On the contrary, said the middle gentleman, would the young lady not like to come in and play for us here in the room, where it is, after all, much more cosy and comfortable? Oh yes, we'd love to, called back Gregor's father as if he had been the violin player himself.
The family was totally preoccupied with the violin playing; at first, the three gentlemen had put their hands in their pockets and come up far too close behind the music stand to look at all the notes being played, and they must have disturbed Gregor's sister, but soon, in contrast with the family, they withdrew back to the window with their heads sunk and talking to each other at half volume, and they stayed by the window while Gregor's father observed them anxiously.
The Third Quartet I made the instruments in pairs - Two different pairs - Violin and viola, and violin and cello. They played very different things from each other all through the whole piece. Elliott Carter
There is nothing more to be said or to be done to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable ways of our fellow men.
There was one thing Beethoven didn't do. When one of his string quartets was played, you can believe the second violin wasn't improvising. Wynton Marsalis
When I first wrote for orchestra, I didn't realize, when you have 20 people playing a violin line, that is very different than one person playing that line. David Del Tredici
