h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

A common way of increasing the solo viola repertoire has also been to transpose cello music, which is straightforward as the difference in pitch is a full octave. Notable examples I have come across are Elgar's cello concerto and Bach's unaccompanied cello suites.

While this may seem a little too much like cover versions of pop songs it does make life more interesting for players of this neglected instrument.

White Hart (former violist but now so out of practice I sound like I'm strangling a cat)

I've also seen music originally written for violin transposed for viola - this is done by transposing the original music down by either a fifth or (in some cases) an octave. One example of the transposition by a fifth is Bach's solo sonatas and partitas (originally for violin), and I did see a piece by Bartok that was partially transposed down an octave, although I can't remember its name offhand.

If all else fails .... write your own music!

Mikeo.

I'm a little confused.. I've only done up 2 Grade 5 music theory, but I was under the impression to transpose cello music to viola you need to transpose it a full octave, and then a tone more. As a viola player with a cellist as a sister, I have tried it, and I'm pretty sure...

The notes themselves on viola versions of cello pieces are just one octave higher - but they're also written (mostly) in alto clef, so you effectively just shift each note up one place (from space to line or vice versa) and replace the bass clef with an alto one. (The change from tenor to alto or treble clef is a bit trickier, though.)

There's also viola music actually written for viola: Telemann's viola concerto in G major, for one, and another concerto in G major for two violas, also by Telemann. Both are in my Suzuki book 4. But undoubtedly, most of the solo music we play is either violin music down a fifth or cello music up an octave. The Bach cello suites do sound pretty nice on viola!

There are a few more viola pieces of note as well - mostly 20th century. The concerti by Bartok (albeit completed posthumously) and Walton are worth listening to (and playing if you can manage them!), as well as quite a bit of music by Bridge (e.g. Berceuse, Elegie and the Three Songs for voice, viola and piano), Britten (e.g. Lachrymae) and Hindemith (e.g. his solo viola sonatas).

I've actually got the Telemann viola concerto in G - one concerto I'd certainly like to publicly perform someday - as well as the double one somewhere on my computer. But one piece that I'm actually going to perform in a few weeks' time is his Concerto (Sonata) for violin, viola da gamba and continuo - the gamba part's actually OK for viola most of the time (there are just two Bs below the C string in the first movement - the rest is all within range), if a little tricky!

I've always wanted to learn the viola da gamba, but being a student, my budget's a bit too small to actually be able to acquire one! Have fun with that concerto.

Oh - I forgot to mention that when you can't trust the cellos to come in properly, the violas will have to do it for them. As my school orchestra's 1st violist, I've been asked to essentially play all the important cello bits in Schubert's Unfinished Symphony.

See, who ever said that violas are the idiots of the orchestra?

Hi echomikeromeo! You should talk to Recumbentman, who is Ireland's foremost viola da gamba player.

Perhaps I will!

I also have a copy on record of Telemann's viola concerto, which also contains ones allegedly by Handel and Johann Christian Bach, though the former if not he latter is (sadly) a modern forgery by a certain Henri Casadesus, a fact mentioned by a modern CD release of a performance by William Primrose of the "Handel" piece.

The problem, of course, is trying to find solo viola stuff which isn't pre 20th century, which to my mind often equates to 'unlistenable' (can't really listen to the Walton or the Barok, both of which I have or have had amongst my CDs).

I agree about 20th century music. I find myself often playing things transposed from violin or cello music - the Bach cello suites don't sound terrible on viola.