Paganini intended the Concerto to be heard in E-flat major: the orchestral parts were written in E-flat, and the solo part was written in D major with instructions for the violin to be tuned a semitone high so that it would therefore sound in E-flat. This enables the soloist to achieve effects sounding in E-flat, which would not be possible with normal tuning. An example of this is the opening of the third movement, where the violin plays a rapiddownward scale A-G-F-E-D, both bowed and pizzicato, which is possible on an open D-string, but extremely difficult in the key of E-flat because two strings would be required to play this downward scale, whereas only one string is required to play it in the key of D. In addition, having the orchestra playing in E-flat appears comparatively to mute the sound of the orchestra compared to the solo violin, because the orchestral string section plays less frequently on open strings, with the result that the solo violin part emerges more clearly and brightly from the orchestral accompaniment.
Leslie Howard's arrangement
Scholar and musicologist Leslie Howard has prepared for publication an edition of the concerto in the correct key of E-flat, with reference both to Paganini's manuscript and the first edition. Howard's edition is the first to be published in the correct key and with the solo part. Leslie Howard's edition was commissioned and published by the Istituto Italiano per la Storia della Musica, as Volume VIII of the Edizione Nazionale delle opere di Niccolò Paganini. This scholarly edition includes facsimiles of the score, the solo part, and also all the extra parts that were added from time to time.
Instrumentation
Paganini's original published scoring was for 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 1 bassoon, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, 1 trombone, and strings. In the years following the original publication of the work, Paganini occasionally expanded his orchestration, writing out some odd parts to add from time to time in performance: 2nd flute, 2nd bassoon, doubled the horns, added trombones 1 & 2, timpani, and banda turca. He never added these into the one and only manuscript score.
Style
The concerto shows the great influence of the Italian bel canto style, and especially Paganini's younger contemporary Gioachino Rossini. The later addition of instruments from a military band give this orchestration a distinct "military" sound.
