Solo Violin

As Printed on a Score

In a concerto, labels the soloist’s staff (Solo Violin, Violin solo), placed directly above the orchestral first violins. Within the orchestra, Solo Violin or One Solo Violin printed over the first violins hands a passage to the leader alone, and tutti returns the rest of the section.

Also spelled: Violin solo, Solo Vln.

How Composers Use It

An orchestral solo — usually taken by the concertmaster — brings a single intimate voice out of the section’s mass, and works best against a thinned texture. Mark Solo at the start and tutti at the end, and write the rest of the section’s part so they know whether to rest or continue. In a concerto, thin the orchestra wherever the soloist plays low or softly, where it is most easily covered.

Example

Holst, The Planets, “Venus, the Bringer of Peace”, first violins, m. 32: “I Solo Violin” hands the line to one player; in “Mercury” the same part later reads “One Solo Violin”.

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