The young Felix Mendelssohn wrote a little-known viola sonata in C minor ( without opus number, but dating from 1824 ).

He continued to write for unusual groups throughout his life, producing a trio for viola, heckelphone and piano ( 1928 ), a sonata for double bass and a concerto for trumpet, bassoon, and strings ( both in 1949 ), for example.

The earliest string trio form consisted of two violins and a cello, a grouping which had grown out of the Baroque trio sonata, while later string trios more commonly are scored for violin, viola, and cello ( Tilmouth and Smallman 2001 ).

The bulk of Vieuxtemps's compositions were for his own instrument, including seven concertos and a variety of short salon pieces, though towards the end of his life, when he had to give up the violin, he often turned to other instruments, writing two cello concertos, a viola sonata and three string quartets among other things.

He wrote eight piano concertos, ten piano sonatas ( of which four are without opus numbers, and one is still unpublished ), eight piano trios, a piano quartet, a piano quintet, a wind octet, a cello sonata, two piano septets, a mandolin concerto, a mandolin sonata, a Trumpet Concerto in E major written for the Keyed trumpet ( usually heard in the more convenient E-flat major ), a " Grand Bassoon Concerto " in F, a quartet for clarinet, violin, viola, and cello, four hand piano music, 22 operas and Singspiels, masses, and much more, including a variation on a theme supplied by Anton Diabelli for Part II of Vaterländischer Künstlerverein.

Unusually for a piano sonata, there are optional parts for other instruments: near the end of the first movement there is an optional part for viola, and in the last movement a flute ( an instrument which Thoreau played ) briefly appears.

Other acclaimed works by Rawsthorne include a viola sonata ( 1937 ), two piano concertos ( 1939, 1951 ), an oboe concerto ( 1947 ), two violin concertos ( 1948, 1956 ), a concerto for string orchestra ( 1949 ), and the Elegy for guitar ( 1971 ), a piece written for and completed by Julian Bream after the composer's death.

Two early exceptions were the viola sonatas of Felix Mendelssohn ( 1824, posthumously published around 1981 ) and the opus 1 sonata of the composer Ernst Naumann ( 1832-1910 ), published in 1854.

** Sonata for viola and piano ( 1946 ) — later reworked as his cello sonata

** A sonata originally for viola d ' amore ()

** Sonata for Viola and Orchestra ( 1919 ) ()-- the sonata for viola and piano orchestrated in 2004-5 by Ruth Lomon

Written in a conventional sonata form, it opens with an introduction, which introduces the principal theme, broken into two elements -- a dialogue between two violins, answered by a viola and cello.

They are also thought to have pioneered the modern alto format of viola, in contrast to older tenor violas, but this stating is not correct since Gasparo made violas from altos of 39 to tenors of 44, 7 cm.

It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass.

It is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family.

He states that, while the exterior of the double bass may resemble the viola da gamba, the internal construction of the double bass is nearly identical to instruments in the violin family, and very different from the internal structure of viols.

The double bass is closest in construction to violins, but has some notable similarities to the violone ( literally " large viol "), the largest and lowest member of the viola da gamba family.

There is a small body of works written for piano quintet with the instrumentation of piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass.

Mozart's Clarinet Quintet is similarly a piece written for an ensemble consisting of 2 violins, a viola, a cello and a clarinet, the last being the exceptional addition to a " normal " string quartet.

Another common type of Western art music quartet is the piano quartet, consisting of violin, viola, cello, and piano.

This is the predecessor of the modern-day violin, viola, and violoncello ( cello ).

Currently, the most common tuning fork sounds the note of A = 440 Hz, because this is the standard concert pitch, which is used as tuning note by some orchestras, it being the pitch of the violin's second string, the first string of the viola, and an octave above the first string of the cello, all played open.

It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola, cello, and double bass.

The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin.

For a child who needs a smaller size, a fractional-sized violin is often strung with the strings of a viola.

The Tertis model viola, which has wider bouts and deeper ribs to promote a better tone, is another slightly ' non-standard ' shape that allows the player to use a larger instrument.

A person who plays the viola is called a violist or a viola player.

* The viola is held in the same manner as the violin, however due to its larger size, some adjustments must be made to accommodate.

The viola, just like the violin, is placed on top of the left-hand shoulder between the the shoulder and the left side of the face ( chin ).

* The viola is generally strung with heavier strings than the violin.

The profile of the rectangular outside corner of a viola bow frog generally is more rounded than on violin bows.

Each string of a viola is wrapped around a peg near the scroll and is tuned by turning the peg.

While the violin, viola, and cello all use friction pegs for gross tuning adjustments, the double bass has metal machine heads.

The earliest known existing concertos are by Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, who composed two concertos for the double bass and a Sinfonia Concertante for viola and double bass.

In the realm of even larger works, Mozart included the double bass in addition to 12 wind instruments for his " Gran Partita " Serenade, K. 361 and Martinů used the double bass in his nonet for wind quintet, violin, viola, cello and double bass.

Other examples of chamber works that use the double bass in mixed ensembles include Serge Prokofiev's Quintet in G minor, Op. 39 for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass ; Erwin Schulhoff's Concertino for flute / piccolo, viola, and double bass ; Fred Lerdahl's Waltzes for violin, viola, cello, and double bass ; Mohammed Fairouz's Litany for double bass and wind quartet ; Mario Davidovsky's Festino for guitar, viola, cello, and double bass ; and Iannis Xenakis's Morsima-Amorsima for piano, violin, cello, and double bass.

The types of pieces written for this quartet are sometimes in the format of 2 main voices, ( violin and cello ) backed up by the viola and double bass respectively.

29, sometimes called the Storm Quintet ; a Fugue in D major for viola quintet, Op.

After returning to Berkeley, Kamen met two Russian officials at a party given by his friend, the violinist Isaac Stern, whom he sometimes accompanied as a viola player in social evenings of chamber music.

A typical 19th century European orchestra included a first violin, a contra-violin ( or modified 3-stringed viola also called Groyse Fidl Big Fiddle, Sekund, Kontra or Zsidó Bratsch ), a tsimbl ( cimbalom or hammered dulcimer ), a bass or cello, and sometimes a flute.

These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass ( sometimes considered an anomaly because of its resemblance to the viol family ), the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion.

The instrumentation of these bands, based on Transylvanian and sometimes the southern Slovak Hungarian communities, included a fiddle on lead with violin, a kontra ( a 3-string viola also called a brácsa ), and bowed double bass, and sometimes a cimbalom as well.

He played the viola in a number of string quartets, most notably the English String Quartet ( along with Marjorie Hayward ), and conducted, sometimes deputising for Henry Wood, before devoting himself to composition, receiving the patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge.

Their sound can be described as viola put into loops, with lots of percussion ( sometimes using selfmade instruments ).

The concerto is scored for a solo bassoon and an orchestra consisting of 2 oboes, a bassoon, 2 horns in Bb ( sometimes transcribed for F ), violin I / II, viola I / II, and cello and double bass doubling the bass line.

The as-yet-unnamed band was sometimes joined by thirteen-year-old schoolboy Johnny Cunningham ( fiddle, viola, mandola, vocals ), who began more extensive touring with the band in 1972.