How difficult is this violin part?

Question

I understand that the difficulty of a passage is quite subjective, but all the same I need to have some idea of what I'm asking. This passage looks OK to me. It sits in the middle of the register, is bowed predictably, and uses a reasonable collection of pitches.

I hope to hear that it will be dramatic and exciting. Hard is OK, but not unplayable. Is it beyond the level of a skilled amateur orchestra? Is it within the expected difficulty level of a mid teir state orchestra in the US?

The tempo is fast, at least ♩ (quarter note)=144

Answer 1

To elaborate on what is easier about this and what challenges it presents:

1. In very rapid passagework, it's the bow that winds up less agile than the left hand. The passage shown here has the advantage that all of the slurs are contained on one string at a time. (String changes would not make it impossible, but it's a nice advantage that we're avoiding them.)
2. The poor violists, as usual, get a raw deal: the violins will be most comfortable in first position, but the violists would have to use fourth finger in the first measure. That's no huge deal, and anybody ought to be able to do so when they have to, but the fourth finger's lesser strength and agility can be a reason to change positions in passagework to avoid it. Players of intermediate skill and above ought to be comfortable in higher positions, and might shift to second for these notes. If I were writing for a middle school orchestra I might reconsider this measure for the violas.
3. The "G-F#-E-D" patterns will have a challenge partly because they're so "easy." They do the very easiest thing in the world: taking your fingers off the string. It can be challenging, especially to intermediate players, to do this with perfect rhythmic subdivision; the temptation is to rip all three fingers off in too-quick succession, so the notes start to bunch up toward the front of the beat. The conductor should anticipate this problem and address it if it starts showing up.

Answer 2

Look at any classical score: you´ll very often see that kind of writing. Any string section capable of playing a classical symphony should have no trouble with it.

Answer 3

That looks like repetitive 1st position phrases without string crossings. That's about as easy as it gets and probably can be executed on a violin even faster than on a piano because you only finger the notes instead of having to strike them.

Not just classic players but also folk fiddlers should be perfectly fine executing this at speed.

Answer 4

What is q=144 intended to mean. quaver = 144 ? That would give a crotchet = 72 which is quite slow for this kind of passage. As written it would be quite easy if I have interpreted the speed correctly. How does your intended speed compare with Mendelssohn's violin passage at the start of the Overture to a Midsummer Nights Dream which runs at about 480 quavers per minute, or 240 crotchets per minute, and that is done unslurred staccato, with a scrubbing bow movement. You have slurred all your notes which indicates 4 notes per bow movement. Do you really want it to be played that way, or would it sound better if it were scrubbed with alternate up and down strokes for each note ?