Violin Concerto no. 1 in D major, op. 6

Paganini composed his First Concerto around 1817–18 and wrote it in E flat, with the solo violin tuned a semitone high so that the soloist plays in D fingering while the orchestra sounds in E flat — a device that gave the instrument extra brilliance and made it cut through the ensemble. He never published it; the score circulated only through his own performances, and he guarded the orchestral parts closely. Modern editions transpose everything into D and drop the scordatura. Only the first movement was printed in his lifetime, in a version for violin and piano.