The viola is the alto of the string section, and is pitched a fifth below the violin, whose fingering and bowing technique it shares. Fortunately, not many people share Wagner's view that it is "commonly played by infirm violinists or by decrepit wind players who were at one time acquainted with the violin". It came into being in northern Italy in the early 16th century and, by IS35, had become established as one of the three principal members of the new violin familv. Known as the "instrument of the middle", the viola, with its dark, warm and rich tone, was used for both the alto and tenor registers. The strings were originally made of gut, but modern violas have
Paul Hindemith (1895–1963) was a renowned viola player who made history by being the first to perform Walton's Viola Concerto in 1929. He played strings that are made of wire wound over gut or metal cores.
The main problem with the original viola was its size; some of the early models were so large that they could barelv be played on the arm. The huge Andrea Amati tenor viola, for instance, had a body length of 47cm/19in. This problem was aggravated in the 19th century when some makers attempted to improve the viola's acoustics bv making the body even longer. These improvements could only be effective if players had sufficiently long arms. The perfecting of the Tourte bow, around 178S, opened a new era in string-playing.
Before 1740 the were no known outstanding violists a consequently, virtually i repertoire for the ! instrument. Although composer such as Bach, Handel; Vivaldi had given the viola important parts i fugues and concertos, i1 was not until the late 18tl century that it began to be treated as a solo instrument.
One of the first composers to wrii a major part for the viola was Mozar who, in his 1779 Sinfonia Concertante (K364), treated the viola and violin equal partners. Paganini played the viola as well as the violin, and wrote caprices for the instrument. In the 20th century, mainly through the presence of outstanding players such as Lionel Tertis and Paul Hindemith more solo viola works were written including concertos by Walton, Bartok and the American composer