The viola sonata is a

sonata Sonata (; Italian: , pl. ''sonate''; from Latin and Italian: ''sonare'' rchaic Italian; replaced in the modern language by ''suonare'' "to sound"), in music, literally means a piece ''played'' as opposed to a cantata (Latin and Italian ''canta ...

for

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

, sometimes with other instruments, usually

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

. The earliest viola sonatas are difficult to date for a number of reasons: *in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including ...

era, there were many works written for the

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch ...

, including sonatas (the most famous being

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

's three, now most often played on the

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

) *in the Classical era and early Romantic, there were few works written with viola specifically in mind as solo instrument, and many of these, like those of the Stamitz family, may have been written for the

viola d'amore The viola d'amore (; Italian for " viol of love") is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The ...

, like most of their viola works—though it is now customary to play them on the viola; it was more typical to publish a work or set, like

George Onslow George Onslow may refer to: * George Onslow (British Army officer) (1731–1792), British politician and army officer *George Onslow, 1st Earl of Onslow (1731–1814), British peer and politician *George Onslow (composer) André George(s) Louis ...

's opus 16 cello sonatas, or

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...

's opus 120 clarinet sonatas in the late 19th century, that specified the viola as an alternate. Two early exceptions were the viola sonata of

Felix Mendelssohn Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (3 February 18094 November 1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. Mendelssohn's compositions include sym ...

(1824, posthumously published in 1966) and the opus 1 sonata of the composer

Ernst Naumann Carl Ernst Naumann (15 August 183215 December 1910) was a German organist, composer, conductor, editor, arranger and musicologist. He is best known now as an arranger and editor of the music of J.S. Bach, Mozart and Mendelssohn. He was a frien ...

(1832–1910), published in 1854. * The viola returned to a solo role in the 20th century.

Max Reger Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (19 March 187311 May 1916) was a German composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and academic teacher. He worked as a concert pianist, as a musical director at the Leipzig University Church, as a professor a ...

wrote three sonatas for either clarinet or viola at the beginning of the century.

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ' ...

, himself a viola virtuoso, composed works several sonatas for viola solo, and others for viola and piano such as the Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4 in 1919. Rebecca Clarke composed the Sonata for viola and piano the same year. Bax'
Viola Sonata
written (like Walton's concerto) for the great English viola player Lionel Tertis in 1923, is one of his most-played and oft-recorded chamber works.

Mieczysław Weinberg Mieczysław Weinberg (8 December 1919 – 26 February 1996) was a Polish-born Soviet composer and pianist. Names Much confusion has been caused by different renditions of the composer's names. In official Polish documents made before he mov ...

wrote four viola sonatas between 1971 and 1983. The Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 147, is the last composition by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

, completed in July 1975 and dedicated to

Fyodor Druzhinin Fyodor Serafimovich Druzhinin, also Fedor, (russian: Фёдор Серафимович Дружинин; 6 April 1932 in Moscow – 1 July 2007) was a Soviet violist, composer and music teacher. Druzhinin studied viola at the Moscow Central Mus ...

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

wrote his Sonata for Solo Viola between 1991 and 1994. * In the 21st century,

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, '' Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and '' Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and stri ...

wrote a viola sonata entitled '' Sonata ebraica'' , completed in 2013.

Work list

* Malcolm Arnold **Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 17 (1947) * Granville Bantock **Sonata in F for viola and piano "Colleen" (1919) * Jan Zdeněk Bartoš **Sonatina for viola and piano, Op. 46 * Marion Bauer **Viola Sonata, Op. 22 (1932) * Arnold Bax **Sonata for viola and piano in G (1921–1922) **Fantasy Sonata for viola and harp (1927) * Jack Beeson **Sonata for Viola and Piano (1953) * Arthur Benjamin **Sonata in E minor (1942) *

Lennox Berkeley Sir Lennox Randal Francis Berkeley (12 May 190326 December 1989) was an English composer. Biography Berkeley was born on 12 May 1903 in Oxford, England, the younger child and only son of Aline Carla (1863–1935), daughter of Sir James Cha ...

**Sonata in D minor for viola and piano, Op. 22 (1945); se
Description from publisher
*

Valentin Bibik Valentin Savich Bibik ( ua, Валентин Савич Бібік; russian: Валентин Саввич Бибик; 19 July 1940 – 7 July 2003) was a Ukrainian composer, teacher and professor. Honored Artist of Ukraine. Biography In ...

**Sonata for solo viola No. 1, Op. 31 (1977) **Sonata for solo viola No. 2, Op. 136 (1999) **Sonata for viola and piano No. 1, Op. 72 (1988) **Sonata for viola and piano No. 2, Op. 137 (2000) *

Easley Blackwood Jr. Easley R. Blackwood Jr. (April 21, 1933 – January 22, 2023) was an American professor of music, concert pianist, composer (sometimes using unusual tunings), and the author of books on music theory, including his research into the properties of ...

**Sonata No. 1, Op. 1 (1953) **Sonata No. 2, Op. 43 (2001) * Arthur Bliss **Sonata for viola and piano (1933) *

Luigi Boccherini Ridolfo Luigi Boccherini (, also , ; 19 February 1743 – 28 May 1805) was an Italian composer and cellist of the Classical era whose music retained a courtly and ''galante'' style even while he matured somewhat apart from the major Europea ...

**Viola Sonata in C minor, G.18 for viola (or cello) and continuo * York Bowen **Sonata No. 1 in C minor, Op. 18 (by 1911?) **Sonata No. 2 in F major, Op. 22 (1911)

*

**Sonata in F minor for viola and piano, Op. 120 No. 1 (1894) and Sonata in E major for viola and piano, Op. 120 No. 2 (1894), composer's adaptation of the two Clarinet Sonatas (Brahms), Clarinet Sonatas * James Francis Brown **Viola Sonata (1995)Tirimo, F. (no date) Works - Viola Sonata. Available at: http://www.jamesfrancisbrown.com/works/work.asp?workid=286&order=catdate (Accessed: 13 October 2015) *

Arthur Butterworth Arthur Eckersley Butterworth, (4 August 1923 – 20 November 2014) was an English composer, conductor, trumpeter and teacher. Biography Early life and education Butterworth was born in New Moston, near Manchester. His father was secretary of ...

**Sonata for viola and piano (1986, though sketched 1949) * Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco **Sonata for viola and harp, Op. 144; The cello and harp sonata is if not a later work, published later. * Paul Chihara **Sonata for viola and piano (1996) * Rebecca Clarke ** Sonata for viola and piano (1919) * Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf **Sonatas for viola and piano * Felix Draeseke **Sonata in C minor (1892) **Sonata in F (1901–2); both composed for

Hermann Ritter Hermann Ritter (16 September 1849 in Wismar – 25 January 1926 in Würzburg) was a German viola player, composer and music historian. Biography Hermann Ritter studied violin at the Neue Akademie für Musik in Berlin from 1865 to 1870. His outst ...

's viola alta *

Lorenzo Ferrero Lorenzo Ferrero (; born 1951) is an Italian composer, librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and has written over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral ...

**Sonata for viola and piano (2000) * Jacobo Ficher **Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 80 (1953) *

Ross Lee Finney Ross Lee Finney Junior (December 23, 1906–February 4, 1997) was an American composer who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. Life and career Born in Wells, Minnesota, Finney received his early training at Carleton Colleg ...

**Sonata for viola and piano *

Lillian Fuchs Lillian Fuchs (November 18, 1901 – October 5, 1995) was an American violist, teacher and composer. She is considered to be among the finest instrumentalists of her time. She came from a musical family, and her brothers, Joseph Fuchs, a viol ...

**Sonata pastorale, for solo viola * Robert Fuchs **Sonata for viola and piano in D minor, Op. 86 * Harald Genzmer **Sonata for Viola solo (1957) **Sonata for Viola and Piano **Sonatine for Viola and Piano * Roberto Gerhard **Sonata for viola and piano (1946)—later reworked as his cello sonata *

Mikhail Glinka Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka ( rus, link=no, Михаил Иванович Глинка, Mikhail Ivanovich Glinka., mʲɪxɐˈil ɪˈvanəvʲɪdʑ ˈɡlʲinkə, Ru-Mikhail-Ivanovich-Glinka.ogg; ) was the first Russian composer to gain wide recogni ...

**Sonata in D minor for viola and piano (incomplete) (1835) *

Hilding Hallnäs Hilding Hallnäs (24 May 1903 – 11 September 1984) was a Swedish composer.Svenskt Musik/Swedish Music Information Centre http://www.mic.se/avd/mic/prod/micv5eng.nsf/docsbycodename/start Hallnäs was married to the actress Gun Holmquist. Lif ...

**Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 19 (1943)

* Hans Werner Henze **Viola Sonata (1979) * Kurt Hessenberg **Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 94 *

Jennifer Higdon Jennifer Elaine Higdon (born December 31, 1962) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. She has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Music for her Violin Concerto and three Grammy Award for Best Contemp ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano (1990) *

**Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 11 No. 5 (1919) **Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 25 No. 1 (1922) **Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 31 No. 4 (1923) **Sonata for Solo Viola (1937) ** Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 11 No. 4 (1919) **Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 25 No. 4 (1922) **Sonata for Viola and Piano (1939) * Vagn Holmboe **Sonata for solo viola *

Arthur Honegger Arthur Honegger (; 10 March 1892 – 27 November 1955) was a Swiss composer who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. A member of Les Six, his best known work is probably ''Antigone'', composed between 1924 and 1927 t ...

**Viola Sonata (1920) *

Alan Hovhaness Alan Hovhaness (; March 8, 1911 – June 21, 2000) was an American- Armenian composer. He was one of the most prolific 20th-century composers, with his official catalog comprising 67 numbered symphonies (surviving manuscripts indicate over 70) a ...

**Campuan Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 371 (1982)

**Sonata for Solo Viola, Op. 423 * Bertold Hummel **Sonatina No.1, Op. 35b (1969

**Sonatina No.2, Op. 52b (1973

*

Johann Nepomuk Hummel Johann Nepomuk Hummel (14 November 177817 October 1837) was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era. He was a pupil of Mozart, Salieri and Clementi. He als ...

**Sonata in E-flat for viola and piano, Op. 5 No. 3 * Miriam Hyde **Sonata in B minor for viola and piano (1937) * Gordon Jacob **Sonata No. 1 (1949) **Sonata No. 2 (1978) * David Johnstone **Sonatango, Sonata with tango influences for viola solo publ. 2007 * Paul Juon **Sonata in D, Op. 15 (1901) **Sonata in F minor, Op. 82 (1923); version of clarinet sonata *

Aram Khachaturian Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (; rus, Арам Ильич Хачатурян, , ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan, Ru-Aram Ilyich Khachaturian.ogg; hy, Արամ Խաչատրյան, ''Aram Xačʿatryan''; 1 May 1978) was a Soviet and Armenia ...

**Sonata for viola solo *

Friedrich Kiel Friedrich Kiel (8 October 182113 September 1885) was a German composer and music teacher. Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his ex ...

**Sonata, Op. 67 in G minor * Luigi von Kunits **Sonata for viola and piano (1917) * Ernst Krenek **Sonata for viola solo * Libby Larsen **Sonata for Viola and Piano (2001) *

Victor Legley Victor Legley (18 June 1915 in Hazebrouck – 28 November 1994 in Ostend) was a Belgium, Belgian violist and composer of classical music, of France, French birth. He first studied in Ypres with Lionel Blomme (1897–1984). In 1935 he matricula ...

**Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 13 (1943)

* Lowell Liebermann **Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op.13 (1984) *

** Sonata for Solo Viola (1991–94) *

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. He be ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano (1955) *

** Sonata for viola and piano in C minor (1824) * Darius Milhaud **Sonata No. 1 for Viola and Piano, Op. 240 (1941) **Sonata No. 2 for Viola and Piano, Op. 244 (1944) *

José Pablo Moncayo José Pablo Moncayo García (June 29, 1912 – June 16, 1958) was a Mexican pianist, percussionist, music teacher, composer and conductor. "As composer, José Pablo Moncayo represents one of the most important legacies of the Mexican nationali ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano (1934) *Paul Müller-Zürich **Sonata for Viola Solo (1979) *Jacques Murgier **Sonata for Viola Solo *

**Sonata in G minor for Viola and Piano, Op. 1 (1854) *

Ludvig Norman Ludvig Norman (28 August 183128 March 1885) was a Sweden, Swedish composer, conducting, conductor, pianist, and music teacher. Together with Franz Berwald and Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, he ranks among the most important Swedish symphony, symphonists o ...

**Sonata in G Minor for Viola and Piano, Op. 32 (1869) *

**three sonatas Op. 16 (played on cello or viola) *

George Perle George Perle (6 May 1915 – 23 January 2009) was an American composer and music theorist. As a composer, his music was largely atonal, using methods similar to the twelve-tone technique of the Second Viennese School. This serialist style, and ...

**Sonata for Viola Solo, Op. 12 *

**Sonatas in A major and F minor for viola and piano, Op. 49 Nos. 1 and 2 (1900); alternate versions of clarinet sonatas **Sonata in B major for viola and piano, Op. 107 (1908-9); also for clarinet and piano *

George Rochberg George Rochberg (July 5, 1918May 29, 2005) was an American composer of contemporary classical music. Long a serial composer, Rochberg abandoned the practice following the death of his teenage son in 1964; he claimed this compositional technique ...

**Sonata for viola and piano (1979) *

Alessandro Rolla Alessandro Rolla (; 23 April 175714 September 1841) was an Italian viola and violin virtuoso, composer, conductor and teacher. His son, Antonio Rolla, was also a violin virtuoso and composer. His fame now rests mainly as "teacher of the great ...

**sonatas for viola with continuo *Johannes Röntgen **Sonata for Viola and Piano *

Julius Röntgen Julius Engelbert Röntgen (9 May 1855 – 13 September 1932) was a German-Dutch composer of classical music. He was a friend of Liszt, Brahms and Grieg. Life Julius Röntgen was born in Leipzig, Germany, to a family of musicians. His father, ...

**Sonata in C minor for viola and piano (1924) **Sonata in A major for viola and piano (1925) **Sonata in A minor for viola and piano (1925) * Nino Rota **Viola Sonata in G (1934–35, revised 1970) **Viola Sonata in C major (1945) *

Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigoryevich Rubinstein ( rus, Антон Григорьевич Рубинштейн, r=Anton Grigor'evič Rubinštejn; ) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor who became a pivotal figure in Russian culture when he founded the Sa ...

**Sonata in F minor for viola and piano, Op. 49 (1855) * Philipp Scharwenka **''Sonate fantasia'' in G minor for viola and piano, Op. 106 (1899)

*

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wo ...

Arpeggione Sonata The Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano in A minor, D. 821, was written by Franz Schubert in Vienna in November 1824. The sonata is the only substantial composition for the arpeggione (which was essentially a bowed guitar) extant today. The sonata wa ...

in A minor for viola and piano, D. 821; original work for arpeggione and piano * Peter Sculthorpe **Sonata for viola and percussion * José Serebrier **Sonata for Viola Solo (1955) * Alexander Shchetynsky **Sonata for solo viola (1987) *

Vissarion Shebalin Vissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin (russian: Виссарио́н Я́ковлевич Шебали́н; 29 May 1963) was a Soviet composer. Biography Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school teachers. He studied in the musical colle ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano *

** Sonata for viola and piano, Op. 147 (1975) * David Stanley Smith **Viola Sonata, Op. 72 (1934)
David Stanley Smith Papers
at the Irving S. Gilmore Music Library, Yale University) * Carl Stamitz **A sonata originally for viola d'amore

* Constantinos Stylianou ** Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 1 in F minor (2019) ** Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 2 in E flat major (2020) *

Eduard Tubin Eduard Tubin ( – 17 November 1982) was an Estonian composer, conductor, and choreographer. Life Tubin was born in Torila, Tartu County, Governorate of Livonia, then part of the Russian Empire. Both his parents were music lovers, and his fat ...

**Viola Sonata (1965) *

Johann Baptist Vanhal Johann Baptist Wanhal (12 May 1739 – 20 August 1813) was a Czech classical music composer. He was born in Nechanice, Bohemia, and died in Vienna. His music was well respected by Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. He was an instrumental ...

**Viola Sonata in E **Four Sonatas for viola and piano, Op. 5 (in C major, D, F and C) * Octavio Vazquez **Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 1 (1992) **Sonata for Viola and Piano No. 2 (2002) * Henri Vieuxtemps ** Sonata in B major for viola and piano, Op. 36 (1862) ** ''Sonate inachevée'' (Allegro et scherzo) for viola and piano, Op. 60 (Op. 14 posthumous) (1884) *

Andrei Volkonsky Prince Andrei Mikhaylovich Volkonsky (also ''Andrey, André, Mikhailovich, Michailovich, Volkonski, Volkonskiy'') (russian: Андрей Михайлович Волконский; 14 February 1933 – 16 September 2008) was a Russian composer of cl ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 8 (1955–56) *

**'' Sonata ebraica'' (2013) *

**Sonata for solo viola No. 1, Op. 107 (1971) **Sonata for solo viola No. 2, Op. 123 (1978) **Sonata for solo viola No. 3, Op. 135 (1982) **Sonata for solo viola No. 4, Op. 136 (1983)

*

George Balch Wilson George Balch Wilson (January 28, 1927 – October 12, 2021) was an American composer who is known for his contributions to electronic music. In 1955 he won the Prix de Rome for composition. He taught for more than 30 years on the faculty of the ...

**Sonata for Viola and Piano (1952) *

Richard Edward Wilson Richard Edward Wilson (born May 15, 1941) is an American composer and pianist. Rejecting serialism, to some extent Wilson engages in tonality, though often with the use of considerable chromaticism. His ''oeuvre'' includes orchestral, operati ...

**Sonata for viola and piano (1989)

References

External links

The history of Draeseke's Viola Alta Sonatas

{{Authority control

Work list

See also

References

External links