The orchestra and its instruments . their amazement that thevioloncellos gained roundness and purity of tone fromtheir association with the viola! There are many places in Beethovens Symphonieswhere the violas are conspicuous; and they are alwaysnoble as well as beautiful. The violas also play withthe violoncellos in the Choral finale of the Ninth Sym-phony. Hector Berlioz, always original, did a fine thingfor the viola by writing a big solo part for it in hisHarold Symphony, which describes Byrons wander-ings of Childe Harold in Italy. The viola imperson-ates Childe Harold. Wagner saw what fi
The orchestra and its instruments . their amazement that thevioloncellos gained roundness and purity of tone fromtheir association with the viola! There are many places in Beethovens Symphonieswhere the violas are conspicuous; and they are alwaysnoble as well as beautiful. The violas also play withthe violoncellos in the Choral finale of the Ninth Sym-phony. Hector Berlioz, always original, did a fine thingfor the viola by writing a big solo part for it in hisHarold Symphony, which describes Byrons wander-ings of Childe Harold in Italy. The viola imperson-ates Childe Harold. Wagner saw what fine use Beethoven had madeof this instrument; and with his wonderful gift forunderstanding the character, quality and color ofevery instrumental voice in the Orchestra, Wagnerwas impressed with the possibilities of the viola. There are new original passages and splendid melo-dies for the viola in all of Wagners music-dramas (astudent could find great profit and pleasure by takingthe orchestral scores of these works and following the. GASPARD DUIFFOPRUGCAR THE VIOLA 53 viola part from beginning to end), but one instancewill suffice to emphasize the important use Wagnermade of this instrument. The next time you hear the Overture to Tannhauserlisten for the motive oj the Venusberg! This phrase,which Lavignac so aptly says recalls Weber when he isfantastic and Mendelssohn when he is fairylike,is given to the viola! Here in this melodious passageWagner showed that the quiet, old, sedate viola couldbe wild, playful and fiery. And Wagner was the firstto exhibit the viola in such a role. Tschaikowskys Pathetic Symphony has a splendidpart for this instrument. Elgar also gives the violamuch to do in his works; and Richard Strauss, carry-ing Wagners fantastic ideas still farther, made theviola impersonate Sancho Panza in the Don QuixoteVariations, where he treats it elaborately, whimsicallyand delightfully. But very likely none of these composers wouldhave thought about this instrument had
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectmusicalinstruments
