The Eight Études-Caprices, Op. 18, of Henryk Wieniawski are unusual in the genre of instructive works in that he wrote them for violin "with the accompaniment of a second violin." And for most of the eight, it isn't necessarily what is traditionally thought of as an accompaniment either. The first violin parts are what you would expect, each focusing on a different playing technique, here meant for the most advanced performers. Each one has its own musical line and could be played alone, sounding perfectly natural by itself. (Nos. 4 and 5 are sometimes heard in recital, with a piano replacing the second violin.) The second violin, instead of providing a harmony to the first violin—what would be a normal function of an accompaniment—provides a melody to which the etude becomes more of a harmony. Etude No. 1 starts out as a duet, both violins playing similar figures, then the first violin works on trills while the second carries on with the original melody. No. 2 also has the second violin playing a lyrical melody with the first violin's accompaniment, although there is an "agitated and vigorous" central section. The second violin has more of a harmonizing role in the third etude, against the smooth runs of the first violin. The same is true in No. 4, a saltarello, and in No. 5, entitled "Praeludium," where the first violin practices its double-stops. In No. 6, the melody is first stated in the first violin, but then switches to the second while the first goes up and down scales in series of intervallic jumps. Detached bowing is the subject of Etude No. 7, while the second violin carries its melody all the way through it. The lively final etude is really a duet and a challenge to both violinists, as the second copies some of the first's figures and chords. The Etudes-Caprices were written in the same period as Wieniawski's Violin Concerto No. 2, while he was in St. Petersburg, and, along with his etudes in Lécole moderne, Op. 10, are often ranked with Paganini's Caprices as more than just challenging technical exercises.

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