Viola Sonata - Definition and Overview

The viola sonata is a sonata for viola, sometimes with other instruments, usually piano. The earliest viola sonatas are difficult to date for a number of reasons:

• in the Baroque era, there were many works written for the viola da gamba, including sonatas (the most famous being Johann Sebastian Bach's three, now most often played on the cello)
• in the Classical era and early Romantic, there were few works written with viola specifically in mind as solo instrument; it was more typical to publish a work or set, like Georges Onslow's opus 16 cello sonatas, or Johannes Brahms's opus 120 clarinet sonatas in the late 19th century, that specified the viola as an alternate.
  • The Brahms may be the first repertory sonatas for the instrument, alternates with an independent life and a performance history.

Work list

• Malcolm Arnold
  • sonata op. 17 for viola and piano (1947)
• Arnold Bax
  • sonata for viola and piano in C minor (1922)
  • fantasy sonata for viola and harp (1927)
• Arthur Benjamin
  • sonata in E minor, 1942
• Arthur Bliss
  • sonata for viola and piano
• York Bowen
  • sonata no. 1 in C minor
  • sonata no. 2 in F
• Johannes Brahms
  • Sonata in F minor
  • Sonata in E-flat, alternate versions of the clarinet sonatas opp. 120 nos. 1 and 2, the first commonly played sonatas on the modern viola
• Arthur Butterworth
  • sonata for viola and piano
• Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
  • sonata for viola and harp (opus 144 — the cello and harp sonata is if not a later work, published later)
• Rebecca Clarke
  • sonata for viola and piano (1919)
• Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
  • sonatas for viola and piano
• Felix Draeseke
  • sonata in C minor (1892)
  • sonata in F (1901–2) both originally for the viola alta
• Ross Lee Finney (composer)
  • sonata for viola and piano
• Robert Fuchs
  • sonata for viola and piano op. 86 in D minor
• Roberto Gerhard
  • sonata for viola and piano (1946) — later reworked as his cello sonata
• Mikhail Glinka
  • sonata for viola and piano in D minor (incomplete)
• Hans Werner Henze
  • viola sonata (1979)
• Kurt Hessenberg
  • sonata op. 94
• Paul Hindemith
  • viola sonatas with and without piano
• Vagn Holmboe
  • sonata for solo viola
• Arthur Honegger
  • sonata
• Alan Hovhaness
  • sonata for solo viola
• Gordon Jacob
  • sonata no. 1 (1949)
  • sonata no. 2 (1978)
• Paul Juon
  • sonata op. 15 in D (1901)
  • sonata op. 82 in F minor (version of clarinet sonata) (1923)
• Aram Khachaturian
  • sonata for viola solo
• Friedrich Kiel
  • sonata op. 67 in G minor
• Ernst Krenek
  • sonata for viola solo
• Victor Legley
  • sonata
• Bohuslav Martinu
  • at least one, poss two sonatas for viola and piano
• Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
  • sonata in C minor (1824?)
• Darius Milhaud
  • two? sonatas for viola and piano
• Georges Onslow
  • two sonatas op. 16 (played on cello or viola)
• Max Reger
  • three sonatas opp 49 1 and 2 and op 107 (alternates of clarinet sonatas)
• George Rochberg
  • sonata in F minor (1979)
• Alessandro Rolla
  • sonatas for viola with continuo
• Nino Rota
  • sonata in C (1934-5, revised 1970)
• Anton Rubinstein
  • sonata op. 49 in F minor
• Peter Sculthorpe
  • sonata for viola and percussion
• Dmitri Shostakovich
  • sonata op. 147 in C minor (1975)
• David Stanley Smith
  • sonata
• Eduard Tubin
  • sonata
• Moisei Vainberg
  • Sonata for Solo Viola No. 1 (Vainberg)
  • Sonata for Solo Viola No. 2 (Vainberg)
  • Sonata for Solo Viola No. 3 (Vainberg)
• Henri Vieuxtemps
  • sonata in B-flat (1863 or before)

External Links

• Review of Concert with Arnold Viola Sonata (http://www.musicweb.uk.net/SandH/2001/Nov01/Arnold_at_80_2.htm)
• The history of Draeseke's Viola Alta Sonatas (http://www.draeseke.org/essays/viola_alta.htm)
• A Mendelssohn Chamber Worklist with Dates (http://www.classical.net/music/composer/works/mendelssohn/chamber.html)
• Schott's page for Nino Rota (http://www.schott-music.com/autoren/KomponistenAZ/show,3547.html)
• A Viola Sonata Repertoire Page (http://presence.or.at/IVS/fr/VlaKlav.htm)