Each violist can always find different sheet music by foreign composers, both old and modern in Viola sheet music section of our library. Just to name a few: Bartok, whose concerts are playing by all viola players, Bach solo suites for viola and other compositions, Beethoven, Bloch, known Brahms viola sonatas, Bruch, Vitali, with his remarkable Chaconne, Grieg, Campagnoli with brilliant concert caprices. Corelli and Locatelli, Czech composer Martinu, Milhaud, well, and of course, Mozart. Many violists often play the brilliant sonatas of Honegger, Nardini, Hindemith, which can be found on our website. Also we collected a large number of works of Rolla, Sitt, Telemann, Schubert. There are so many composers who wrote the composition for viola. Of course there are such masterpieces as concerts by Frid, Forsite, Stamitz, Hoffmeister, Walton, Enescu. Of course, there are many Russian and Soviet composers. You can find viola sheet music by Prokofiev, and Glinka, Shostakovich, Slonimsky, Rachmaninov, Golovin. This is only a small part. Go to the section "Viola sheet music" and look how rich the viola repertoire is!
For junior violists (and not only for them) our music library opened a large section where you can find etudes for viola, a variety of exercises, scales, schools, also very rare collections. It's never too late to play the viola etudes! We also have rare caprices by Stanitsky and etudes by Dont, Rode, Palashko.
For those viola players and viola artists who are going to work in the orchestra, there will be useful to play some music from our collection. Many theaters or any philharmonic orchestras at the audition can give you some difficult pieces. It will be useful to pre-teach difficult places, and so easy to see how there are virtuoso the viola orchestral parts can be.
This is only a small part of what offers you alto our website. See all topics, we hope you will find them in the for yourself useful and interesting. In the nearest time we'll open the violin, cello sheet music and quartet sheet music section!
The proportions of the viola cannot be as nearly defined as those of the violin, which can be said to have a standard size within quite small limits of variation. It seems that every imaginable combination of measurements has been tried in the as yet unfinished evolutionary process, the goal of which is to achieve an instrumental design that will answer to a common ideal of the viola's sound and capabilities. This common ideal is being delayed in its crystallizing by an unusual divergence of opinion among performers, composers, and listeners, both as to what kind of tone the viola should produce and what kind of music it should be expected to play. The viola presents an especially marked example of the continuity of the evolutionary process, which we cannot assume to be completed in the case of any of our instruments.
Even the largest violas are not big enough in comparison with the violin to correspond to the pitch a perfect fifth lower, and this discrepancy is doubtless responsible in large part for the unique tone quality of the viola. The larger the instrument the more difficult it is to handle, especially when playing in upper positions.
The bow is somewhat thicker than the violin bow, and hence heavier.
The viola's heavier strings speak with more reluctance, and tone production requires a certain amount of "digging in." Light and airy types of bowing are therefore less natural to the viola than to the violin. They are not to be shunned, but one should realize that only skillful players with good instruments can make them sound effectively.
The two lower strings are wound with wire, the others being plain gut. Some players use wound strings for all four, and metal A-strings are also used.
The fingering system of the viola is identical with that of the violin. Playing the viola requires a large hand and strong fingers, particularly the fourth finger, which is held in a more extended position than on the violin. The extension of the left forearm in the first position proves tiring after long playing. Positions above the third are inconvenienced by the awkwardness of getting around the shoulder of the viola with the left hand.
The normal clef for the viola is the alto clef (middle C on the third line). The treble clef (G clef) is employed when the part lies substantially above the range of the alto clef for a length of time. Too many clef changes should be avoided. A violist is quite accustomed to reading two or three leger lines above the staff, and he would prefer to do so rather than change clef for just a few notes.
The situation of the viola in the middle of the pitch range of the strings seems to have made it the busiest member of the group. It is not only appropriate for melodies of its own, but it is constantly called upon to double violins at the octave or unison, or it may double the 'cellos or even the basses. The character and the sound of the viola are more suited to singing melody than to the performance of agile figuration.
In a modern orchestra there are usually twelve violas. In the period of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, the number was at most five, with six to ten first violins and six to ten second violins. Violas have a heavier tone than violins, and in classical scores there is good evidence that the divided violas were thought a sufficient balance for the combined first and second violins. |
