Violin Concerto no. 2 in D minor, op. 22

Wieniawski wrote the Second Violin Concerto in the early 1860s, while leading the imperial court orchestra in St Petersburg and teaching at the conservatory newly founded there, and dedicated the score to Pablo de Sarasate. He played it himself for years before allowing publication, which came only in 1879, a year before his death. The three movements run without a break, the Romance functioning as the work's centre of gravity rather than the finale, which is marked alla zingara. It has stayed in general repertoire while the First Concerto is played mainly by specialists.

Wieniawski was the soloist at the first performance, in St Petersburg on 27 November 1862, with Anton Rubinstein conducting. Writing a few days after hearing it, César Cui said he still could not shake off the impression the music had made on him, above all the first movement. Since 1952 the international Wieniawski competition in Warsaw, held every five years, has kept the concerto in its compulsory programme.