Viola/Viola: History, structure, playing technique

History

In contrast to the term “viola”, the alternative term “viola” refers to the long historical development of the viola within the viola family of instruments, which is divided into viola da braccio instruments (arm violin) and viola da gamba instruments (leg violin). A significant difference between these groups of instruments is that the viola da braccio instruments do not have frets (subdivision of the strings for pitch) like the viola da gamba instruments. Violas’ had their heyday in the 16th and 17th centuries in the polyphonic music of the string consort. Later, this consort developed into the violin family with violin, viola and violoncello when the playing style was increased. This transformation began with the practice of solo violin playing at the beginning of the 17th century.

In the 18th century, attempts were made to modify the instrument. One of these attempts was the violon alto built by Michel Woldemar, a five-stringed viola which resembled the violino pomposo built in the same century and was extended by the double e. Heinrich Dessauer (1863-1917), a pupil of Joseph Joachim, worked on expanding the sound spectrum of the viola at the beginning of the 20th century.

Structure

The sound of the viola has its origin and its peculiarity in the fact that the highest note of the viola is a fifth lower than that of the violin (ratio 2:3). For this reason, the body of the viola can be larger than that of the violin (approx. 36 cm), namely approx. 54 cm.

It is the result of centuries of development that the viola has a smaller body than physics would suggest. An important factor that had to be taken into account was the relationship between the size of the human body and the instrument. The larger the instrument, the more the left arm is stretched, the smaller the physiologically possible radius of the arm movement inwards (supination) to grip the strings.

A larger instrument body, as used for the viola, means a longer scale length (vibrating string length), which leads to longer intervals between notes. When playing the viola, the fingers of the fingering hand are constantly spread and must be relaxed at the same time to ensure the necessary dexterity. Even on the smaller violin, playing requires a strong inward rotation of the left arm. The viola places much greater strain on the arm, back and shoulder. The pronounced supination of the arm can lead to muscle hardening and bursitis in the elbow joint if the playing technique is incorrect.

Playing technique

In the Baroque era, the second-lowest voice in polyphonic string movements was played on the viola tenore, an instrument with a body length of around 48 cm. The middle voice, on the other hand, was played on the viola alta, which is similar to today’s violas with a body length of 40 to 42 cm. However, these historical instruments were made smaller in the 18th century due to increased technical requirements in order to meet the needs of the emerging classical period.

Today, the viola (and the violoncello) take over the sound-producing middle parts, for which separate violas were previously built. However, the return to historical sound aesthetics and playing techniques through the use of replicas of old violins has led to a revival of the original variety of instruments.