The Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 6, was composed by Niccolò Paganini and dates from the mid-to-late 1810s. It was premiered in Naples, Italy on 31 March 1819. Paganini intended the Concerto to be heard in E-flat major: the orchestral parts were written in E-flat, and the solo was written in D major with instructions for the violin to be tuned a semitone high, (a technique known as scordatura) enabling 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 rapid downward 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. (i.e. playing B♭-A♭-G-F-E♭) 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 to comparatively 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.