Viola Instruments
Viola Instrument Fast Facts
Viola players sit in a group left or right center of the conductor. Their strings are tuned to C G D A. The upper two are plain gut, the others wound wire; some players prefer all wound strings. The viola has a somewhat melancholy timbre which has been little exploited in either solo or orchestral music. By early tradition the viola was ‘of little importance in the musical establishment’ and viola players were ‘always taken from among the refuse of violinists.’ Fingering for the viola is the same as for the violin but because the instrument is larger it requires a stronger hand with a bigger stretch. The bow is also larger and heavier than that of the violin.
A Brief History of the Viola Instrument
There have always been different sizes and types of viola, as well as different names – violino, violetta, cinquieme, quinte de violon and so on. But the orchestral viola is an abbreviation of viola da braccio (arm viola) and it is still called Bratsche in German. At the time of the great Cremonese makers of stringed instruments, Amati and Guarneri were making violas with a body length of 16 ¼ inches. Later violas were made between 17 to 18 ½ inches long, but by Mozart’s time a mere 14 to 15 inches. The Lionel Tertis version, first made in 1930, is 16 ¾ inches long. In the opinion of many makers and musicians the problem of the relationship between size and volume of sound of the viola has not yet been satisfactorily resolved. This can be seen to be true because in no one orchestra are all the violas of the same dimensions.
The story of the viola is a sad one from which historians can wring little excitement. Interest in it in the first half of the 18th century was so feeble that there were hardly any violas made at all and it was not until string quartets became popular that the better performers began to brush up their technique.
Champions of the viola have admittedly emerged from
time to time, the Bohemian Karl Stamitz in particular. The Stamitz family
was celebrated in the 18th century; in fact, the town of Mannheim, where
they lived, was a strong contender with Vienna for importance in the development
of classical music. Karl, who was a viola player, rescued the instrument
from its obscurity by writing independent parts for it in his symphonies
and by writing a viola concerto. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert
had all played the viola and recognized its potential, but mainly for
chamber music for which they were more or less assured of skilled performers.
In symphonic woks, wrote Berlioz, ‘it was unfortunately impossible…to
write anything for violas of a prominent character, requiring even ordinary
skill in execution.’ It was due to Berlioz that, after some years of wrangling,
a viola class was established at the Paris Conservatoire. That was not
until 1894, when half the world’s great symphonic music had already been
written, and Lionel Tertis, the outstanding protagonist of the viola,
was already eighteen years old.
More than anyone else it was Tertis, a great player and a fine musician,
who brought the viola respectability. He badgered composers to write for
him, and he himself transcribed violin and cello concerti for the viola.
In an attempt to overcome the weakness of the volume-to-size ratio of
the instrument, Tertis redesigned the viola, but without ultimate success.
Tertis was succeeded by other players, such as Bernard Shore, who also
achieved international reputations. The viola section of the orchestra
is today equal to any other string section in technical ability, and this
is demonstrated by the quality and difficulty of the music now written
for it.
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