ABSTRACT 
 
 

Title of Disserta2on:                                 EXAMINING THE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE 
                                                                     AND TECHNIQUES OF THE VIOLA IN THE STRING DUO   
                                                                     REPERTOIRE 
 
                                                                     Chi Lee, Doctor of Musical Arts, 2024 
 
Disserta2on directed by:                         Dr. Eric Kutz, School of Music 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 This document examines the string duo repertoire with viola from the beginning 

of the genre in the 18th century to the present day. The study begins by documenting 

over 3,000 string duos with information regarding the composers, time periods, 

publishers, and instrumentation. A table including the information of all known string 

duos with viola is included with as many details as possible to present a complete 

representation of the repertoire that exists. The information gathered from this data will 

then be analyzed to find general trends in the compositions from the Baroque, Classical, 

Romantic, and Modern periods. Upon examining different pieces in more detail, the 

performance practice and techniques required from the viola will be explored to better 

understand how composers used the viola in string duos throughout history. 

 

 

 



 

 

 
 
 

EXAMINING THE PERFORMANCE PRACTICE AND TECHNIQUES OF THE VIOLA IN THE STRING 
DUO REPERTOIRE 

 
 
 

by 
 

 
 

Chi Lee 
 
 
 
 

Disserta2on submiQed to the Faculty of the School of Music of the 
University of Maryland, College Park, in par2al fulfillment 

of the requirements for the degree of 
Doctor of Musical Arts 

2024 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
Advisory CommiQee: 
 
   Dr. Eric Kutz, Chair 
   Professor Daniel Foster 
   Dr. Kelsey Klotz 
   Professor David Neely 
   Dr. Harry Tamvakis 

 
 
 



 
 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

© Copyright by  
 

Chi Lee 
 

2024 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 



 ii 

Preface 

 

This document will examine string duo repertoire that includes the viola, over a 9me 

period of approximately 300 years. The four genres of string duos that will be examined are: 

duos for violin and viola, duos for two violas, duos for violin and cello, and duos for viola and 

double bass. A catalog of all exis9ng string duos with viola will be listed. The catalog of works for 

string duo only includes original works for the viola and will not cover transcrip9ons made by 

editors, unless the transcrip9on is made by the composer or considered to be historically 

important enough to the repertoire to be included. For each entry, there will be informa9on 

about the composer, 9tle, number of works in the volume, date of composi9on, period of 

music, and publishing informa9on. When mul9ple works are published under one 9tle, they will 

be entered as they appear under their published 9tles with a note of how many works are 

contained within the volume. When data is missing pertaining to the date of composi9on or 

publishing informa9on, approximate informa9on may be given.1 

Previous book-length studies on the viola repertoire include those by Franz Zeyringer 

(“Literatur für Viola, 1985), Maurice Riley (“The History of the Viola,” 1980), and David Bynog 

(“Notes for Violists: A Guide to the Repertoire,” 2020). These books cover both the repertoire 

for solo viola as well as chamber music for the viola. These authors, who are also violists, set out 

to write about the viola repertoire to beZer help players discover the historical repertoire that 

 
1 In some cases, there are pieces that only exist in manuscript, but the manuscript is readily available online or 
through an organiza9on such as the American Composers Alliance. If the work exists in other databases, but there 
does not seem to be a clear way for a performer to look at the music, it will s9ll be included in the catalog of works 
since its existence and details have been confirmed by an outside source.  
 



 iii 

exists. The most comprehensive book of these three is Franz Zeyringer’s book, which contains 

over 14,000 entries. Franz Zeyringer (1920-2009) was an Austrian violist who founded the 

Interna9onal Viola Society, whose na9onal sec9ons contain many prominent organiza9ons such 

as the American Viola Society.2  

 Outside of printed material, there are a number of databases that have been used to 

locate string duos. The most comprehensive library catalog, WorldCat, itemizes the holdings of 

over 10,000 ins9tu9ons and 10 million musical scores. Specific databases that pertain to the 

viola repertoire include the Dutch Viola Society’s Viola Ensemble Music,3 American Viola 

Society’s Underrepresented Composers Database,4 the Sphinx Catalog of La9n-American Viola 

Works,5 and the Interna9onal Music Score Library Project (IMSLP).6 A number of performing 

ensembles dedicated to the string duo repertoire with viola, including the Slapin-Solomon Viola 

Duo7 and Duo Chordata,8 who have curated lists of the repertoire for their instrumenta9on. One 

advantage that these online sources have over printed materials is the inclusion of new works 

 
2 Zeyringer, Franz. Literature für Viola. Hartberg: Verlag Julius SchönweIer, 1985.  
 
3 Viola Ensemble Music from the Dutch Viola Society. hIps://dutchviolasociety.nl/bladmuziek-sheet-music/ 
 
4 Underrepresented Composers Database of the American Viola Society. 
hIps://www.americanviolasociety.org/underrepresented-composers-database/ 
 
5 The Sphinx Catalog of La9n-American Viola Works. hIps://www.sphinxmusic.org/la9n-american-viola-works 
 
6 IMSLP, Petrucci Music Library.  
Composi9ons with the viola: hIps://imslp.org/wiki/List_of_Composi9ons_Featuring_the_Viola;  
Composi9ons with violin and viola: hIps://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_violin,_viola;  
Composi9ons with 2 violas: hIps://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_2_violas;  
Composi9ons for viola and cello: hIps://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_viola,_cello;  
Composi9ons for viola and double bass: hIps://imslp.org/wiki/Category:For_viola,_double_bass 
 
7 The Slapin-Solomon Duo. hIps://violaduo.com/sheet-music 
 
8 Duo Chordata. hIps://chordataduo.wixsite.com/violacello 



 iv 

that have been wriZen in the last 40 years, which form a substan9al part of the string duo 

repertoire. This study differs from previous studies of the viola literature in two important ways. 

It aZempts to show the complete repertoire that exists for string duos, including contemporary 

works, and uses the data to derive an analysis of historical paZerns about how the viola was 

u9lized by composers in different periods of music. 

From compiling these sources, a total of 3,194 string duos are iden9fied which include 

the viola. This is from a total of 1,535 9tles, with many volumes including mul9ple duos (for 

example, the 12 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.60 by Robert Fuchs is one 9tle entry but 12 

works). There are 1,394 duos for violin and viola, 1,230 duos for viola duet, 427 duos for viola 

and cello, and 143 duos for viola and double bass round out the collec9on.  

 

 



 v 

 

Another important metric to examine is the 9me periods from which these pieces come. 

There are 287 9tles from the Classical period, 33 9tles from the Roman9c period, and 1,215 

9tles from the Modern period.  

 

 

 

These data show that the first string duos for viola were wriZen during the Classical 

period, the genre declined in popularity during the Roman9c period, and then had the most 

pieces wriZen during the Modern period. The history of the string duo repertoire will be 

explored to show how composers used different techniques for the viola in different 9me 



 vi 

periods. The stylis9c and social factors from different 9me periods will be shown to have 

contributed to the viola being used in different ways in the string duo repertoire.  

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 vii 

 

Acknowledgments 

 

I would like to first express my sincere gra9tude towards my husband, Paul, for his 

endless support throughout my degree. I would also like to express my gra9tude for Professor 

Daniel Foster who shaped me to be the violist I am today and helped me immensely during the 

9me I’ve studied with him. Thank you to Dr. Eric Kutz for his guidance and support as my 

commiZee chair. Finally, I would like to thank the rest of my commiZee, Professor David Neely, 

Dr. Harry Tamvakis, and Dr. Kelsey Klotz, for their 9me and knowledge.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 viii 

Table of Contents 

 

Preface …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ii 
Acknowledgments ………………………………………………………………………………………………….……… vii 
Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………………………………….………. viii 
Chapter 1: The Baroque Period (1600-1750) and the Absence of String Duos ……………….   1 
Chapter 2: The Classical Period (1750-1800), Chamber Music, and the Beginning of the Viola 
Repertoire ….…………………………………………………….………………………………………………………….   6 
Chapter 3: The Decline of the Viola in Roman9c String Duos (1800-1900) ……………………   27 
Chapter 4: The Importance of the Viola in the Modern Period (1900-Present) …………….   41 
Chapter 5: Modern String Duos afer World War II ………………………………………………………   62 
Appendix I: String Duos with Violin and Viola ………………………………………………………………   68 
Appendix II: String Duos with 2 Violas ………………………………………………………………………….   79 
Appendix III: String Duos with Viola and Cello ……………………………………………………………..   87 
Appendix IV: String Duos with Viola and Double Bass ………………………………………………….   92 
Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..   96 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 1 

The Baroque Period (1600-1750) and the Absence of String Duos 

 

 One of the first observa0ons to be made about the string duo repertoire’s history is the 

lack of music from the Baroque period. While some of the earliest composers who wrote duos 

for the viola include the composers William Flackton (1709-1798), Wilhelm Freidemann Bach 

(1710-1784), Johann Georg Röllig (1710-1790), Carlo Graziani (1710-1787), Felice Giardini 

(1716-1796), Anna Amalia (1723-1787), and Pietro Nardini (1722-1793), none of these 

composers wrote in the Baroque style. At the earliest, the composi0ons from this genera0on of 

composers would have come from the 1730’s, when the Galant style (some0mes called “pre-

Classical” or “early Classical”) was already in fashion. All of these early duos are in the Classical 

style, which means that apart from transcrip0ons, there are no original string duo works from 

the Baroque period that include the viola.1 

 The origins of the viola date back no later than 1535.2 The earliest violas that are s0ll 

used today were made by Gasparo da Salò (1542-1609) in the late 16th century. While violas 

were o]en made by the great violin makers of the Baroque period, they were made in much 

smaller quan00es. For example, while there are around 600 surviving Stradivari violins, there 

are only 10 Stradivari violas that exist today.3 The viola was considered an important part of the 

 
1 There are many published transcrip3ons of string duos from the Baroque period, including some edi3ons that are 
disguised as original composi3ons. An example of a piece that appears authen3c on first glance is Angelo 
Bertalo>’s 30 Sona3nas for violin and viola (Ut Orpheus Edizioni), which date from 1744, but the published edi3on 
is a transcrip3on from solfege exercises by Bertalo> and was modified by its editor.  
 
2 Boyden, David D., and Ann M. Woodward. “Viola”. Grove Music Online. 2001; 
hVps://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.ar3cle.29438. 
 
3 Ibid. 
 



 2 

violin family star0ng from its very beginnings, so the viola repertoire and use from this 0me 

period needs to be examined to understand why no string duos were composed. 

 The term “viola” was originally a generic term for members of the violin family. The 

terms “alto viola” and “tenor viola” were commonly used to denote the instrument’s register 

and eventually the viola became associated with playing in the middle register. During the 

Baroque period, one can see these terms being used for the name of the instrument, such as in 

John Walsh’s publica0on of Handel’s Concerto Grosso, Op.3, No.1 in 1734, which has two viola 

parts in the score.4  

In other languages that use the term “alto” for viola, this is a clearer inten0on of its 

intended role in the violin family. Because of the middle range that the viola played in during 

the Baroque period, it was considered to be an instrument used to play the harmony in larger 

ensembles. Its use was not required in smaller genres such as the trio sonata, where the 

keyboard instrument would fill out the harmonies. Despite the fact that it was so commonly 

found in repertoire from the Baroque period, used by virtually all the period’s leading 

composers, the viola’s use was predominantely in scores that required larger instrumenta0on.  

It should be noted that the viola of the Baroque period differed in many ways in its setup 

and strings from the viola that is most commonly used in modern 0mes. Gut strings were used 

exclusively on the viola un0l steel strings came into common use in the 20th century. The earliest 

violas, such as those by Gasparo da Salo, only used unwound gut strings, as the first wound 

 
4 Handel, George Frederic. Concer1 Grosso con Due Violini e Violoncello di Concer1no Obliga1 a Due Altri Violini 
Viola E Basso di Concerto Grosso Ad Arbitrio da G.F. Handel, Opera Terza. London: I. Walsh, 1734. 
 



 3 

strings were invented in Italy in 1660.5 The shoulder rest was also a 20th century inven0on, 

which changed the playing style of the violin and the viola. Fingerboards were o]en shorter in 

length, and, combined with the size of the viola, it is likely that shi]ing into higher posi0ons was 

not as common a technique as it is today. This type of setup makes the viola from this period 

becer suited towards blending in an ensemble, rather than projec0ng as a solo instrument.  

 Another factor that may have contributed to the lack of string duos from the baroque 

period was the small social importance among musicians that was placed on the viola. The 

violin ended up receiving the most acen0on among string instruments from the Baroque period 

and there is evidence that players did not o]en specialize in playing the viola specifically. One 

observa0on on this topic comes from Johann Quantz’s 1752 trea0se “On Playing the Flute:”  

 

“The viola is commonly regarded as of licle importance in the musical 

establishment. The reason may well be that it is o]en played by persons who are 

either s0ll beginners in the ensemble or have no par0cular gi]s with which to 

dis0nguish themselves on the violin, or that the instrument yields all too few 

advantages to its players, so that able people are not easily persuaded to take it 

up. I maintain, however, that if the en0re accompaniment is to be without 

defect, the violist must be just as able as the second violinist.”6 

 

 
5 Barbieri, Patrizio. “Roman and Neapolitan Gut Strings 1550-1950”. The Galpin Society Journal, Vol. 59 (May, 2006). 
147-181. 
 
6 Quantz, Johann Joachim. On Playing the Flute. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 2001. 237 
 



 4 

This lack of specializa0on contributed to a small amount of repertoire for the viola from 

this 0me period. While there are many names associated with the violin from this 0me, there 

are hardly any names of famous violists in the Baroque period. The lack of string duos is not 

unique, due to a lack of repertoire specific to the viola from this 0me period. Among concertos, 

there are only four surviving examples that exist by Georg Philipp Telemann, Johann Mar0n 

Dömming, August Heinrich Gehra, and Johann Goclieb Graun.7 There are also only a few 

examples of concertante works, such as Johann Sebas0an Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, 

Telemann’s Concerto for Two Violas, and Johann Goclieb Graun’s Concerto for Violin and Viola. 

When the violist and composer William Flackton published his Six Solos, Op.2, he lamented 

about the lack of solo pieces for the viola in the preface, and explained why he wanted to 

compose these pieces:  

 

“The Solos for a Tenor Violin are intended to shew that Instrument in a more 

conspicuous Manner, than it has hitherto been accustomed; the Part generally 

alloced to it being licle more than a dull Ripiano, an Accessory or Auxiliary, to fill 

up or compleat [sic] the Harmony in Full Pieces of Music; though it must be 

allowed, that at some par0cular Times, it has been permiced to accompany a 

Song, and likewise to lead in a Fugue; yet even then, it is assisted by one, or more 

Instruments in the Unisons or Octaves, to prevent, if possible, its being 

dis0nguished from any other Instrument; or, if it happens to be heard but in so 

 
7 Riley, Maurice W. The History of the Viola, Volume II. Ann Arbor: Braun-Brumfield, 1980. 117-118.  
 



 5 

small a Space as a Bar or two, '0s quickly overpowered again with a Crowd of 

Instruments and lost in Chorus. Such is the Present State of this Fine Toned 

Instrument, owing, in some Measure, to the Want of Solos, and other Pieces of 

Music, properly adapted to it.”8  

 

It is surprising that for an instrument that was commonly used, and that existed even 

before the Baroque period began, it would not be un0l later in the 18th century that its 

repertoire would blossom. Star0ng at the beginning of the new Classical style, composers would 

turn to the string duo repertoire.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
8 Flackton, William. Six Solos, Three for a Violoncello and Three for a Tenor, Opera II. London: Flackton, 1770.  
 



 6 

The Classical Period (1750-1800), Chamber Music, and the Beginning of the Viola Repertoire 

 

The Classical period saw large growth in the amount of repertoire for the viola in all 

genres of music. Not only are there many examples of viola concertos from the Classical period 

(Stamitz, Hoffmeister, Dicersdorf, Pleyel, Rolla, Vanhal, and the Sinfonia Concertante of Mozart 

are all prominent examples from this musical period), the genre of chamber music properly 

began during this period. The Classical period saw the true beginnings of the string quartet as 

an ensemble and its repertoire flourished; this made the viola a more prominent member of the 

string family. The thousands of string quartets composed from this period elevated the focus on 

the viola and its player. During this 0me, hundreds of string duos began to be composed for the 

viola. In many ways, given the acen0on that prominent composers gave to the viola, the 

Classical period was the golden age of the viola repertoire un0l the 20th century. 

The Classical style that composers wrote in may have also contributed to the viola being 

becer u0lized in string duos from this period. In his book, “Music in the Galant Style,” Robert 

Gjerdingen has wricen about how the period of music generally known as the Classical period is 

constructed from musical pacerns fundamentally based on the mo0on of the bass line by scale 

degree.9 These musical pacerns are referred to as schemata and the preferred pacerns from 

composers during this 0me made it possible for a simplified division of melody and 

accompaniment when compared to the Baroque style. Earlier music from the Baroque period 

tended to prefer musical pacerns based on contrapuntal methods of composing, while this new 

 
9 Gjerdingen, Robert. Music in the Galant Style. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 



 7 

style simplified the contrapuntal language of music. With this division of melody and 

accompaniment, the viola could be becer u0lized in string duos, where it could fill both roles.  

  The genre of repertoire from the Classical period that contains the largest number of 

works are the string duos for violin and viola. By the end of the period, some of the most 

famous composers such as Mozart, Haydn (both Franz Joseph and Michael), Hoffmeister, and 

Stamitz would write string duos for violin and viola. While the string duos from these par0cular 

composers are important parts of the viola repertoire, they should be thought of as the 

culmina0on of a genre that started with contribu0ons from lesser known contemporaries of 

these composers. During this 0me, there were also many violinist-composers who were 

publishing their first works as public figures who contributed large amounts of string duos to the 

repertoire. 

While examining the list of string duos from this 0me period, there are many names of 

composers that are not well-known, but published pieces with a low opus number for violin and 

viola. These are typical examples of this type of work: 

 

Johannes Andres Amom (1763-1825) – 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.2 

Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (1757-1821) – 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.2 

Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831) – 6 Duo Dialogués, Op.2  

Andreas Lidl (ca.1740-1789) – 6 Duos, Op.3 

Niccolo Mestrino (1748-1789) – 6 Duos, Op.3 

 



 8 

The similarity that many of these pieces have in common is that they were wricen by 

violinists and the majority of works were published in Pairs by publishing firms such as Sieber 

and Imbault.10 The low opus numbers meant that these were o]en some of the first works that 

these composers published. With the growing number of violin soloists who wanted to promote 

themselves as composers, combined with the audience of amateur musicians that wanted to 

buy violin music, these types of works found an ideal market for the publishers that were 

working in Paris. There are even many examples of violinist-composers lost to history who 

composed works in this style, such as D.F. Janlet, Franz Lamoce, Louis Charles Ragué, and Pietro 

Tassistro, whose contribu0ons to the viola repertoire are only known because of the publishing 

companies who promoted the pieces they wrote during their life0mes. By giving these 

performers a chance to publish their original composi0ons, the publishing companies in Paris 

gave these musicians an opportunity to sell music to a amateurs who performed at home.11  

While the majority of these works are not noteworthy for the virtuosity of the wri0ng, 

they are composed in an ordinary musical language for their 0me and make up historically 

important repertoire for the development of string technique. As Gjerdingen has noted, the 

musical language of this period made it possible for composers to learn the musical pacerns of 

this music quickly and create pieces that are made of different combina0ons of the schemata.12 

Many composers were trained in this style from an early age, including orphans in Naples, 

 
10 Jean-Georges Sieber (1738-1822) and Jean-Jérôme Imbault (1753-1832) were both musicians who started their 
own publishing firms in Paris towards the end of the 18th century. Both companies were very successful during their 
3me in publishing instrumental music, especially for the violin.  
 
11 Jones, David Wyn. “What Do Surviving Copies of Early Printed Music Tell Us?” Music Publishing In Europe 1600-
1900: Concepts and Issues Bibliography. Berlin: Berliner Wissenschans-Verlag, 2005. 140. 
12 Gjerdingen, Robert. Music in the Galant Style. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 452. 
 



 9 

which became a leading center for this musical style.13 Their goal was not necessarily a unique 

and virtuosic piece of music, but one that was cra]ed in the conven0onal style of the 0me. 

Many of these Classical violinist-composers wanted to convey quality of musical style over the 

techniques used by virtuoso violinists from Paganini and onwards.  

A typical technique used in these violin and viola duets is to begin with a trading off of 

melody and accompaniment between the instruments. This example from Kreutzer’s Op.2 Duos 

is an example of this technique from this period: 

 

 
13 Gjerdingen, Robert. Child Composers in the Old Conservatories: How Orphans Became Elite Musicians. New York: 
Oxford University Press, 2020.  



 10 

 

 

Example 1: Rudolphe Kreutzer (1766-1831) – Duo in G major, Op.2, No.1 



 11 

In the Kreutzer duo, the viola’s role is to first outline the underlying harmony below the 

violin’s melody. This o]en means alterna0ng between arpeggiated major and minor chords and 

then moving on to stepwise mo0on. Double stops are also common in the accompaniment to 

show harmony. A]er the opening phrase is completed, the viola takes up the melody and the 

roles are reversed with the violin. This style is seen very o]en in the Classical period and is a 

standard technique in the string duo repertoire.  

In the majority of pieces, the viola will repeat the opening theme of the violin as the 

second instrument of the pair. With the viola tuned a fi]h lower than the violin, these pieces 

o]en have more melodic content in the violin part. In this example by the violinist-composer 

Antonio Bruni, the viola begins the melody in the opening movement in a reversal of usual 

roles: 

 



 12 

 

 

Example 2: Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (1757-1821) – Duet in E-flat major, Op.2, No.1 

 



 13 

Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (1757-1821) was both a violinist and a violist ac0ve in Italy 

and helped to promote the viola during his life0me through his own playing and composi0ons. 

Many of his string duos have a more ac0ve role for the violist compared to other string duos 

from this 0me. In addi0on to composing string duos, he also wrote a method book for the viola, 

which contains 25 etudes and exercises for violinists learning the alto clef.14 

This period of music also saw a huge prolifera0on of composi0ons for the viola by the 

composer Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841). He was the first famous soloist on the viola and wrote 

prolifically for both the viola and violin. Born in Pavia in Lombardy, Italy, he had a successful 

career in Italy that culminated with the appointment as concertmaster and conductor of the 

opera house La Scala in Milan. He is best remembered today as the teacher of Niccolò Paganini, 

with Rolla’s music seen as a predecessor to the virtuosic works that Paganini was known for 

playing. It’s likely that Paganini learned many of his famous techniques from Rolla and his music. 

Over 500 of Rolla’s works survive, including 22 viola concertos, 78 string duos for violin and 

viola, 38 string duos for two violas, and 10 string duos for viola and cello.  

Rolla composed in the Classical style his en0re life and was influenced by musical trends 

in Vienna. He was known as one of the leading interpreters of Beethoven’s symphonies in Italy, 

but his own musical language was closer to the style of Mozart and Haydn.15 With over 100 

contribu0ons to the string duo repertoire, Rolla is the most prolific composer in this genre from 

the Classical period.  

 
14 Bruni, Antonio Bartolomeo. Metodo per viola seguito da 25 studi. Paris: Janet et Cotelle, 1817.  
 
15 Smart, Mary Ann. “Beethoven Dances: Prometheus and his Creatures in Vienna and Milan”. The Inven1on of 
Beethoven and Rossini: Historiography, Analysis, Cri1cism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013. 210. 
 



 14 

With this repertoire in mind, the famous violin and viola duos of Mozart and Haydn can 

be thought of as a part of a greater collec0on of works from this genre. Haydn’s Six Sonatas for 

Violin and Viola, Hob:VI:1-6, were wricen some0me between the 1760’s and 1770’s when 

Haydn was employed in the court at Esterházy. These composi0ons were composed to be 

performed in the privacy of the Esterházy palace by the court musicians there.16 The viola was a 

prominent part of the chamber music that Haydn composed while in his court posi0on, 

including his string quartets and the Baryton trios, which include the viola.  

Haydn also had access to the excep0onal violinist Luigi Tomasini, who was Kapellmeister 

of the orchestra and it is likely that he premiered these six sonatas.17 In Haydn’s catalogue of 

works, he iden0fies these six duos under the 0tle “Solo per il Violino.”18 The violin gets the 

melodies in all of these six sonatas and the viola is designated as the accompanying instrument. 

While the six sonatas are interes0ng pieces within Haydn’s work, they suffer from the division of 

content between the two instruments.   

Mozart composed his two duos in 1783 under different circumstances that relate to 

Haydn’s brother, Michael Haydn. Michael Haydn had composed four sonatas for violin and viola, 

but was running late in finishing a complete set of six works that were commissioned due to 

illness. He ran the risk of having his salary in Salzburg cut for not producing works quickly 

 
16 Baron, John H. In1mate Music: A History of the Idea of Chamber Music. Hillsdale: Pandragon Press, 1998. 199. 
 
17 Sisman, Elaine Rochelle. Haydn and the Classical Varia1on. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1993. 117. 
 
18 Na, Euna. “A Compara3ve Analysis of the Six Duets for Violin and Viola by Michael Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus 
Mozart.” Thesis, Indiana University, 2021.  
 



 15 

enough, so Mozart composed two pieces in Michael Haydn’s style to complete the set.19 

Michael Haydn’s music is now overshadowed by his brother’s music, but during his life0me 

Michael was seen as the more cosmopolitan composer of the two brothers, with his brother’s 

posi0on being in a rela0vely remote loca0on.  

One key difference between the four sonatas by Michael Haydn and the two duos by 

Mozart is that the viola has a more ac0ve melodic role in the works by Mozart. While the 

sonatas by Michael Haydn are excep0onally composed, the viola parts to these sonatas are 

normally accompaniments with parts such as these: 

 

 

 
19 Spieth, Alison. “A MaVer of Taste: Duos for Violin and Viola by Joseph Haydn, Michael Haydn, and Wolfgang 
Amadeus Mozart.” Thesis, University of California, Los Angeles, 2012. 
 



 16 

 

Example 3: Michael Haydn – Viola Part to Sonata No.1 for Violin and Viola, MH 335 

 

 In the example above, the viola’s role is to outline the harmony by playing the outline of 

chords and double stops. Much like his brother’s sonatas, Michael Haydn only rarely gave 

melodic material to the viola in these sonatas. Mozart’s musical style is similar in nature to 

Michael Haydn’s, but passages like this in Mozart’s first duo give more prominence to the viola 

player by trea0ng both instruments as equals: 

 

 

 

 

Example 4: Mozart – Duo for Violin and Viola No.1, K.423 

 

The Classical period saw a number of composers wri0ng works for two violas. Many of 

these works are similar in style to the violin and viola pieces from this 0me period. Apart from 

Rolla, there are notable viola duets wricen by Wilhelm Freidemann Bach, Carl Philipp Stamitz, 



 17 

Giuseppe Maria Cambini, Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni, Pietro Nardini, Carl Siegemund 

Schönebeck, Johann Franz Xaver Sterkel, and Johann Chris0an Stumpf.20  

Alessandro Rolla’s string duos are the most technically demanding viola duos from this 

0me period, but are also rooted in the musical language of the late 18th century. In this example 

from his Duet No.5 in E-flat major, the melodic material is similar to the Neapolitan opera0c 

style from this 0me that influenced composers in Vienna to start composing with similar 

schemata:21 

 
20 Potur, Oana Vasilica. “History and Pedagogy of Viola Duos from the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth 
Centuries.” Thesis, Florida State University, 2015.  
 
21 jerdingen, Robert. Music in the Galant Style. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. 23. 



 18 

 

Example 5: Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) – Duet No.5 in E-flat major 

The string duos for viola and cello have some interes0ng examples of technical demands 

for the violist. While the exis0ng duets for viola and cello are not as abundant in number as 



 19 

those with violin and viola, there are notable examples of the viola taking a more melodic role 

in many of these works. Some of the string duos with cello are viola sonatas, such as the 

sonatas by Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, Luigi Boccherini, Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni, William 

Flackton, Fran0šek Kocžwara, Bernard Lorenzi0, and the nine sonatas by Alessandro Rolla. In the 

case of sonatas from this 0me, it is important to note that some0mes keyboard instruments 

were s0ll used where only a single bass note is given in the part. While the Flackton sonatas 

have figured bass in their score, the front cover of the first edi0on states that they could be 

played with either a cello or a harpsichord.22 However, the same is not true of the sonatas by 

Rolla, Bruni, or Boccherini where there are no figured bass signs in the cello part. In the case of 

these sonatas, they are meant to be played only with cello accompaniment where the emphasis 

is on the viola as a solo instrument.  

There is also duo repertoire from this period that treats both instruments as equals. The 

most famous viola and cello duo from this 0me period is an early work by Ludwig van 

Beethoven. The Duet in E-flat major “with Two Obbligato Glasses” comes from 1796 when the 

teenage Beethoven was employed as a tux viola player in the court orchestra in Bonn. Only the 

first movement survives in completed form, together with an incomplete minuet movement 

that could have been a projected second or third movement of the piece. It was not wricen 

with publica0on in mind, but rather for performing with his friend, the cellist Nikolaus Smeskall. 

The two both wore glasses at the 0me, which is where the inside joke about two obligato 

glasses comes from.23 The only copy of this piece comes from a collec0on called the “Kaya 

 
22 Flackton, William. Six Solos, Three for a Violoncello and Three for a Tenor, Opera II. London: Flackton, 1770. 
 
23 Thayer, Alexander Wheelock. Thayer’s Life of Beethoven. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. 196.  



 20 

Sketchbook”, named a]er its former owner, Johann Nepomuk Kaya (1819-1886). This collec0on 

of manuscripts includes some of Beethoven’s earliest music and is an insight into the style of 

music he was most influenced by in his early years. 

As can be expected, the string duo is rooted in the Classical style of Viennese music of 

the 1790’s. The beginning of the movement is typical of string duos from this 0me period with 

both instruments taking their turn in playing the opening melodic material:  

 



 21 

 

Example 6: Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) – Duet in E-flat major “with Two Glasses 

Obbligato”, WoO 32 



 22 

 

Beethoven wrote this composi0on because he had the ability to perform it with a friend, 

which helps explain the conversa0onal quali0es of the duet. Part of the fascina0on with this 

duo is that there is not much wricen about Beethoven’s viola playing. He kept up with his violin 

playing even a]er moving to Vienna, but since his viola posi0on in the court orchestra was a 

tux role, there wouldn’t have been much reason to write specifically about his playing there.24 

It offers challenges for both players and it is likely that they both had ample technical ability to 

perform the piece.  

From the viola-cello repertoire, there are other duos from this 0me that have 

complimentary material in them. The string duos by Vaclav Pichl, Iganz Pleyel, Georg Abraham 

Schneider are wricen in a similar manner that gives melodic material to both instruments. 

Business reasons may explain why there are fewer pieces for viola and cello from this period. 

While there were many amateur violinists that wanted to buy solo violin music at this 0me, the 

market for viola and cello music was not as large. The largest publishers in Paris, London, and 

Amsterdam would have sold more copies of music for violin. 

Few examples of string duos with double bass exist from this 0me period, but some of 

these works are historically interes0ng for the techniques used in the viola parts. Dicersdorf’s 

duet for viola and double bass is the second 0me he paired the two instruments together, 

having also wrote a Sinfonia Concertante for Viola and Double Bass with orchestra. Dicersdorf’s 

duet gives melodic lines to both instruments with double-stop passages for the violist: 

 

 
24 Plan3nga, Leon. Beethoven’s Concertos: History, Style, Performance: Volume 1. New York: W. W. Norton, 1999. 26. 



 23 

 

 

Example 7: Carl Di`ers von Di`ersdorf (1739-1799) - Duet in E-flat major, for viola and 

double bass 

 

 Four works for viola and double bass by Johannes Machias Sperger (1750-1812) also 

exist from this 0me. He worked as a double bassist and composer in Schwerin, located in 



 24 

northern Germany. Three of these works are double bass sonatas, but they are wricen with the 

double bass playing the solo part and the viola playing accompaniment. Upon first glance, it 

looks like this type of piece would be upside down in terms of the natural register of both 

instruments. Sperger was successful at making these pieces work because the double bass o]en 

has to play in its upper register throughout: 

 



 25 

 

 

Example 8: Johannes Ma`hias Sperger (1750-1812) – Sonata for Double Bass and Viola, 

MC:I06 



 26 

 

The fourth piece by Sperger for this instrumenta0on, the Duet in D major, gives more 

equal roles to both players. Sperger also composed a viola concerto during his life0me and is 

likely that he performed these pieces with either the concertmaster Anton Zimmermann or 

another violist employed in the same orchestra.25  

 The Classical period saw a large increase in the amount of repertoire wricen for the 

viola, by many of the leading composers from this 0me period. As the 19th century progressed 

and the Roman0c style became the dominant language of composing, the viola would find itself 

u0lized differently by composers wri0ng string duos.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
25 Meier, Adolf. Konzertante Musik für Kontrabass in der Wiener Klassik. Worms: Primo-Druck, 1969. 164-165. 
 



 27 

 

The Decline of the Viola in Romandc String Duos (1800-1900) 

 

 By the end of the Roman0c period, the number of string duos being wricen for viola 

dras0cally declined. Two hundred and eighty seven surviving collec0ons of works date from the 

Classical period, but only 33 from the Roman0c. A]er the explosion of pieces in the 18th 

century, it is at first surprising to find a decline in composers wri0ng for the viola in the next 

century. A number of factors help to explain why there are fewer pieces during this 0me period. 

 The Roman0c style is characterized by a broader array of the harmonies used, less 

conven0onal forms, and composers being more individualis0c in their composi0on style.26 

These three quali0es contrast with the Classical style that came before it. While the 18th century 

saw many composers wri0ng in the same harmonic language, some0mes hard to tell from one 

another, composers strove to have individual voices in the 19th century that could be very 

different in style. There are many examples of 18th-century pieces that could be confused for 

either Mozart or Haydn, but later composers such as Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, 

Brahms, Berlioz, and Chopin made it a point to have individual, recognizable styles that were 

unique to only themselves.  

If uniqueness became a valuable quality in the 19th century, it might help to explain a 

slowdown in how fast a composer could write new works. As an example, pieces like the Six 

Sonatas for Violin and Viola, Hob VI:1-6 by Haydn would have been more difficult to compose if 

 
26 Samson, Jim. “Roman3cism.” Grove Music Online, 2001; 
hVps://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.ar3cle.23751 
 



 28 

certain quali0es of each sonata had to be unique and unlike the others. The prolific rate that 

composers wrote new works in the 18th century can be seen in other genres, such as 

symphonies. It wasn’t uncommon for many of the Classical period’s composers to write dozens 

of symphonies, but by the Roman0c period, it was uncommon to write more than a few.   

 Since harmony became increasingly complex in Roman0c music, the string duo did not 

have a prac0cal way to deal with complex harmonies. Compared with using a piano or a large 

ensemble, the use of double stops and chords are not as prac0cal for producing complete 

harmonies at once. In the 18th century, the stepwise mo0on of harmonic changes and the 

outlining of simpler major and minor chords could be done more easily between two 

instruments. For example, there are many pieces from the Classical period that use the 

repeated Alber0 bass figure, but for the chroma0c harmonies found in Roman0c music, a string 

instrument would have more problems showing the complete harmony of a chord at a single 

given 0me. In this style, it was more prac0cal to write a solo work for an instrument with piano. 

By the end of the 19th century, there was an emphasis on “maximalism” as a musical 

quality. Richard Taruskin has wricen in the Oxford History of Western Music that this axtude 

was about making everything larger and more complicated than music that came before it.27 

This lead to the large orchestra0on of orchestral pieces by Richard Strauss and Gustav Mahler, 

as well as the chroma0c harmonies of early Schoenberg. While the end results are extreme 

compared to the music from the beginning of the century, the effects of “maximalism” was a 

quality that can be seen over most of the music from the Roman0c period in gradual ways. As a 

 
27 Taruskin, Richard. Oxford History of Western Music, Volume 4. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
hVps://www.oxfordwesternmusic.com/view/Volume4/actrade-9780195384840-div1-001003.xml 
 



 29 

small genre with only two instruments, the string duo may not have been seen as appealing for 

composers who wanted to write in large forms.  

 Combined with the emphasis on more complicated harmony and larger pieces, the 

genre of the string duo did not fit in as well during the 19th century for the viola. The lack of 

pieces wricen for the viola is also not unique to the string duo genre. While there are many 

examples of viola concertos from the Classical period, wricen by the period’s leading 

composers, there are only a handful of notable concertos wricen during the 19th century. The 

best known concerto from this 0me is Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy, but besides the Berlioz 

work, the noteworthy works for viola and orchestra from this 0me are shorter works by Bruch, 

Paganini, Weber, and others.28  

One reason why composers may not have preferred to write concerto works for the viola 

was the growing popularity of the piano as a solo instrument. The numerous piano concertos 

from this 0me period was helped by the stunning virtuosity of pianist-composers such as Liszt 

and Chopin. With orchestras growing in size, the piano could also fit the balance becer than a 

viola would with a larger orchestra. The popularity and presence of the piano in the Roman0c 

period was consistent throughout the 19th century.  

The other genre of music that grew during this 0me period was orchestral music. The 

first full-0me professional orchestras were founded during the 19th century, such as the Vienna 

Philharmonic (1842), New York Philharmonic (1842), Berlin Philharmonic (1882), Chicago 

 
28 Boyden, David D., and Ann M. Woodward. “Viola”. Grove Music Online. 2001; 
hVps://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.ar3cle.29438. 
 
 



 30 

Symphony Orchestra (1891) and Czech Philharmonic (1896).29 The orchestra represented the 

sheer growth of music’s size during this period and composers put heavy importance on wri0ng 

large scale works for the orchestra. Since Beethoven composed his symphonies, it became the 

goal of many composers to write their own symphonies in the same tradi0on. The idea of 

wri0ng a string duo compared to a large-scale orchestral work was o]en not as appealing for 

composers in the 19th century.  

 Despite the smaller amount of repertoire from the Roman0c period, there are s0ll 

examples worth examining to see what techniques were used in the viola wri0ng. One point to 

keep in mind about this period’s string duos is that the performer-composer repertoire was s0ll 

being wricen, but in much smaller quan00es. Even though most of the 19th century’s leading 

composers were pianists, there were s0ll a number of string players wri0ng string duos during 

this 0me. Violinists who were s0ll wri0ng violin and viola duets included Leopold Jansa, Emil 

Kreuz, Moritz Schön, and Adolf Busch. Even in this repertoire as late as Adolf Busch’s Duet for 

Violin and Viola, there are s0ll some of the same stylis0c choices made in music from the 18th 

century, such as melody and accompaniment and the trading off of roles: 

 

 
29 Carse, Adam. A History of the Orchestra in the First Half of the 19th Century, and of the Development of the 
Orchestral Baton-conduc1ng. Ann Arbor: Scholarly Press, University of Michigan. 1976. 250.  



 31 

 

Example 9: Adolf Busch (1891-1952) – Duet for Violin and Viola, BoO 8  



 32 

 The decline in the sheer number of performer-composer works points to a few factors 

about these types of composers. In the Classical period, it was easier to adopt the musical style 

of the 0me and learn how to compose in the musical language of the 0me. The composi0ons 

from this type of composer may have been average in quality and not necessarily individually 

interes0ng, but the pieces could be composed by puxng together the different schemata that 

people knew and recognized in music. In the Roman0c period, many of these Classical schemata 

were abandoned and composers had to find other ways of composing.30 Many forms survived 

into the Roman0c period and beyond, such as the sonata form, but the musical language within 

these sonatas was transformed into something new.  

 If these quali0es were important for composers to include in a composi0on, it would 

have made it more difficult to be a performer who wanted to publish their own works. An 

average work that did not stand out might not have been compe00ve in the market of sheet 

music that was available to purchase. On a prac0cal level, the publishing companies that used to 

support the work of selling music by violinists had to also sell music to the growing market for 

piano music.31  

The most successful violinist-composers of the Roman0c era were able to incorporate 

virtuosic technique into their composi0ons. Star0ng from the works of Paganini, this trend 

would con0nue through the works of violinists such as Henryk Wieniawski (1835-1880), Henri 

Vieuxtemps (1820-1881), Joseph Joachim (1831-1907). The next two examples by the 

 
30 Byros, Vasili. “Topics and Harmonic Schemata: A Case from Beethoven.” The Oxford Handbook of Topic Theory, 
Danuta Mirka, ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.  
 
31 Lenneberg, Hans. On the Publishing and Dissemina1on of Music, 1500-1850. Hillsdale: Pendragon Press, 2003. 
90. 
 



 33 

Norwegian violinist-composer Johan Halvorsen  (1864-1935) are similar in nature to this line of 

composers.  

There are two duets for violin and viola by Johan Halvorsen. The most famous of the 

two, which is s0ll performed regularly as a showpiece, is the Passacaglia in G minor on a Theme 

by Handel, wricen in 1893. The piece is based largely on the passacaglia movement from the 

Suite in G minor, HWV 432 by Handel, but freely arranged and recomposed by Halvorsen. While 

it is o]en referred to as a transcrip0on, as well as the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia, it is more 

accurately a reimagining for the two instruments since many varia0ons are modified and some 

are newly composed by Halvorsen.32  

 For the varia0ons that Halvorsen adapted from the Handel work, he added different 

techniques for the performer to incorporate into the performance. In this passage, the two 

players use up-bow staccato on the descending scales:  

 

 

 

 
32 LiVlewood, Julian. The Varia1ons of Johannes Brahms. London: Plumbago Books, 2004. 41. 



 34 

 

 Spiccato passages and runs of scales are common in this piece. The slower Andante 

varia0on makes use of double stops: 

 

 

 

Pon0cello is also used as a special effect between the two instruments: 

 

 

 

 These techniques are new addi0ons to the viola technique in the string duo repertoire. 

Halvorsen’s “Sarabande con Variazioni,” wricen in 1897, is similar in its composi0on. It takes the 

sarabande movement from Handel’s Suite in D minor, HWV 437, and reimagines it for violin and 

viola with added techniques. The piece is not as popular as the Passacaglia, but employs many 



 35 

of the same techniques. It is also based on the progression of “La Folia”, which was used by 

many composers during the Baroque period. 

In the opening, both instruments play the La Folia chord progression (i, V, i, ♭VII, ♭III, 

♭VIII, i, V) to simulate the chords of the harpsichord in Handel’s original:  

 

 

The next two varia0ons have alterna0ng parts between both instruments, where 

spiccato is u0lized and large spans of register are played:  

 

 

 

 

 

 Towards the end, both instruments play together in unified rhythm: 



 36 

 

 

 

Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) composed a work early in his career in 1891/92 for violin and 

viola 0tled Duo in C major. Sibelius’s early training was on the violin and he had aspira0ons to 

become a violin soloist before turning to composing full-0me. He had a mix of successes and 

failures playing the violin. Sibelius went to study music in Berlin and Vienna and had an 

unsuccessful audi0on for the Vienna Philharmonic.33 He returned to Finland in 1891 and began 

teaching theory and violin, around the same 0me he composed his string duo. It’s possible that 

he composed this duet for teaching purposes or to play with other local musicians.  

Sibelius’s Duo in C major leaves most of the melodic material to the violin. The violist 

plays legato accompaniment throughout the piece:  

 

 
33 Grimley, Daniel M. Jean Sibelius: Life Music, Silence. London: Reak3on Books, 2001. 45. 



 37 

 

Example 10: Jean Sibelius – Duo in C major, 1891-92 

 

This string duo by Sibelius emphasizes the dark, melodic nature of the viola by keeping 

the part in the lower range and using double stops. Unlike the Halvorsen, there are no virtuosic 

techniques required from the players. The emphasis is fully on the melodic and musical quali0es 

of the work. While the piece is an early work by Sibelius, it is important to look at this piece by 

one of the late Roman0c period’s leading composers for its historical significance and 

excep0onal melodic wri0ng. 

Another notable duo for violin and viola is by the Austrian composer Robert Fuchs 

(1847-1927). Fuchs taught music theory at the Vienna Conservatory from 1875 to 1912, where 

he taught many composers that would become famous, such as Sibelius, Enescu, Korngold, and 



 38 

Mahler. He was good friends with Johannes Brahms who admired Fuchs as a composer and the 

two shared some stylis0c similari0es in their composi0ons. Fuchs composed his 12 Duets for 

Violin and Viola, Op.60 around 1898 and later arranged the piece for violin and piano.34 He had 

an interest in wri0ng for the viola around this 0me and composed his Viola Sonata, Op.86 in 

1899.  

Fuchs may had envisioned the duets to be played as single pieces instead of as a 

complete cycle. The whole collec0on is around 35 minutes of music, with the average duet 

taking around 3 minutes in length. Like the Sibelius duet, the viola typically is playing 

accompaniment in these pieces while occasionally taking up the melody. There is also a variety 

of styles to the duets. Some of the string duos in this opus number are lyrical, while others are 

wricen in the style of the Viennese waltz. In this example, the viola takes up the waltz rhythm 

throughout: 

 

 

 
34 The manuscript of this arrangement by Fuchs exists in Vienna in the Österreichische Na3onalbibliothek, S.M., 
30308.  



 39 

 

Example 11: Robert Fuchs – Duet for Violin and Viola No.4, Op.60, No.4 

In this example from Fuchs’s 5th duet, the viola primarily takes up a melodic role: 

 

 

 

 Example 12: Robert Fuchs – Duet for Violin and Viola No.5, Op.60, No.5 



 40 

 

 Fuchs’s melodic wri0ng for the viola keeps it in the middle to lower range of the 

instrument, which brings out the unique, darker character of the instrument when compared to 

the violin part. Fuchs was similar to Sibelius in his axtude towards wri0ng for the viola in these 

string duos. He wanted to bring out the unique 0mbre of the instrument by wri0ng music that 

was best suited towards that goal.  

 While these examples u0lize the viola in a way that suites these composers’ Roman0c 

styles, they are significantly fewer in number compared to the last century’s repertoire. As the 

Roman0c period came to a close at the end of the 19th century, the viola would find a huge 

increase in repertoire composed across mul0ple genres in the new musical styles of 20th 

century. A]er the decline in repertoire of the 19th century, the 20th century would become the 

period with the most repertoire composed for string duos with viola.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 41 

 

The Importance of the Viola in the Modern Period (1900-Present) 

 

 While the viola’s use in string duos was on the decline by the end of the 19th century, at 

the start of the 20th century, composers increasingly returned to the genre. Composers from the 

20th century to the present day have wricen for the viola more than composers of any previous 

0me period. The reasons for this sudden change in axtude towards wri0ng string duos for the 

viola will be examined, along with examples of this period’s repertoire.  

 Compared to the Roman0c period with its 33 string duos for the viola, the Modern 

period contains 1215 0tles wricen for the viola. This represents 2530 individual string duos for 

the viola, or almost 80% of the string duo repertoire. Beginning at approximately the turn of the 

20th century and con0nuing to present 0mes, the Modern period saw a large increase in 

composers wri0ng for the viola. The first factor to consider in this increase was the 

professionaliza0on of performing musicians and the increase in the quality of viola playing in 

this 0me.  

 The 19th century saw the founding of many music conservatories where music was 

taught as an advanced study and in a formal school environment. The oldest conservatories that 

are s0ll ac0ve come from this 0me, such as the Conservatoire de Paris (1795), Prague 

Conservatory (1808), Vienna Conservatory (1821), Royal Academy of Music (1822), Saint 

Petersburg Conservatory (1862), and Moscow Conservatory (1866).35 By the 0me these 

 
35 Holoman, D. Kern. The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduc1on. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. 9. 
 



 42 

ins0tu0ons were well established and their curriculum was standardized, they produced 

performers who played on a high level and wanted to be employed as performing musicians. 

Combined with the increased opportuni0es to perform in orchestras that were founded around 

this 0me, there was a professionaliza0on of the industry and the average level of playing 

increased as a result of this. As a result, the repertoire for virtually all instruments in use 

increased in size, some0mes even as a result of commissions by music conservatories.36 The 

ins0tu0onaliza0on of music during this 0me, as well as the historical proximity to the current 

era, may have resulted in more scores surviving than any other period. 

 The viola itself was modernized during the 20th century. Steel strings started to be used 

in mixed sets with gut in the 1920’s and eventually the string technology improved to a point 

where they became the dominant form of string used by the en0re string family.37 Shoulder 

rests also became widely used, which changed the technical approach to shi]ing for violists. The 

difference in sound gave violists an opportunity to have an increased projec0on and be more 

considered as instrument to be used outside of the orchestra.  

 While there are not many examples of viola soloists from the past (outside of excep0ons 

such as Alessandro Rolla or Antonio Bruni) there were a number of excep0onal violists born 

around the late 19th and the turn of the 20th centuries who became famous as solo players. 

Viola soloists from this 0me included Lionel Ter0s (1876-1975), Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), 

Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), and William Primrose (1904-1982). Ter0s, Clarke, and Hindemith 

 
36 Colgin, Melissa Gail. “The Paris Conservatoire Concours Tradi3on and the Solos de Concours for Flute, 1955-
1990”. Thesis, The University of Texas at Aus3n, 1992.  
 
37 Dann, Elias. “The Second Revolu3on in the History of the Violin: A Twen3eth-Century Phenomenon.” College 
Music Symposium, Vol. 17, No.2 (Fall, 1977). 64-71. 



 43 

would all contribute their own original string duo works to the repertoire, but these four viola 

soloists were also important in that they inspired composers during their life0mes to compose 

original pieces for them to play.  

Lionel Ter0s was responsible for either premiering or inspiring the concertos of William 

Walton, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Gustav Holst (“Lyric Movement”), and Arnold Bax. Other 

notable examples include William Primrose’s commission of Bela Bartok’s Viola Concerto in 

1945, and Hindemith composing the concerto works Der Schwanendreher, Konzertmusik, 

Op.48, Trauermusik, and Kammermusik No.5. Rebecca Clarke composed one of the most 

popular viola sonatas in 1919 and composed a number of other works for the viola. Between 

these four players, there was arguably already more ac0vity centered around the viola than in 

the en0re Roman0c period. 

While the performers were an important part of the process of having repertoire 

wricen, the stylis0c changes that happened during the Modern period also helped the string 

duo repertoire. The 20th century was the first 0me in Western classical music where mul0ple, 

dis0nct styles of music were broadly recognized as co-exis0ng together. Modernism as a musical 

language was concerned with somehow sounding new compared to music that came before it. 

It was innova0ve in ways that previous music took for granted, such as tradi0onal tonality. The 

Modern period contained the dis0nct movements of Expressionism (Schoenberg, Berg, 

Webern), Impressionism (Debussy, Ravel), and Neoclassicism (Stravinsky, Les Six). While the 

stylis0c quali0es of these composers could o]en be very different, they worked at the same 

0me, and were linked together by their concern for a fresh approach to composing works that 

sounded different from Roman0c music.  



 44 

Complexity in music would con0nue throughout the 20th century, but star0ng with the 

Second Viennese School of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern, there was a complexity of musical 

language that had an effect on the music that was wricen for large ensembles. While 19th 

century composers had focused on the orchestra, the modernist music that was being wricen 

around 0me was o]en very difficult to perform. Schoenberg realized this problem, and founded 

the Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna in 1918. The small ensemble, o]en 

including piano and harmonium, could carefully rehearse and perform new music that would 

have been too difficult for public performances by orchestras. This meant that there was a 

return to smaller ensembles to perform music that had a certain level of complexity.  

This is not to say that there were not also orchestral works wricen in this modernist 

style around this 0me. Orchestras s0ll wanted to perform modern music, but composers also 

found that smaller ensembles could accurately portray the details and complexity of their 

music. Some composers, like Anton Webern (1883-1945), found that scaling back the size of 

their composi0ons in both size of ensemble and length beneficed their style of composing. It 

was possible to write music that was strikingly different from the Roman0c style, while at the 

same 0me pushing complexity in other areas of the music. 

One example of how a viola soloist inspired new repertoire for their instrument is Frank 

Bridge’s Lament for two violas. Frank Bridge (1879-1941) was also a violist in addi0on to being a 

composer and wrote this piece to play with Lionel Ter0s in a concert at Wigmore Hall in 1912. 

Originally conceived as a two movement work, the original manuscript was lost for many years 

before Bridge’s thema0c catalogue compiler, Paul Hindmarsh, discovered a sketch of the Lament 



 45 

in the Royal College of Music’s library.38 He was able to reconstruct this movement from this 

sketch, but the first movement “Caprice” could not be reconstructed.  

The opening of this piece presents the melancholic melody, which is then heard again by 

the second viola in typical duo fashion: 

 

 
38 White, John. Lionel Ter1s: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola. Ann Arbor: Boydell Press, University of Michigan, 
2006. 23. 
 



 46 

 

 

Example 13: Frank Bridge – Lament for Two Violas, 1912 

 

 Later in the piece, the two violists also share dialog going back and forth: 



 47 

 

 

While the composi0onal techniques are similar to music in the past, the dissonant notes 

between the two instruments is new to the period. The registral changes are also expanded in 

this work. An example of the dissonant harmonies and what is required of both players happens 

towards the end of the piece when they begin to play in octaves: 

 



 48 

 

 

Rebecca Clarke was an important pioneer as the first famous woman viola soloist of the 

20th century. Her composi0ons for the viola now make up a part of the standard repertoire for 

the instrument, but at the 0me she was met with considerable resistance to the idea that a 

woman could compose for their own instrument. Born in England, she was a composi0on 

student of Charles Villiers Stanford at the Royal College of Music and also studied viola with 

Lionel Ter0s. Eventually she moved to the United States, where she became a prominent 

performer, but had difficul0es with her composi0on career. Her viola sonata, composed in 1919, 

was entered into a composi0on compe00on that 0ed first place with the composer Ernest 

Bloch. There was suspicion that Bloch composed this piece as well, with the panel doub0ng that 

Clarke had the ability to write such a composi0on.39 Despite the difficul0es that she had, she 

 
39 Cur3s, Liane. “Rebecca Clarke and Sonata Form: Ques3ons of Gender and Genre.” The Musical Quarterly, Vol.81, 
No.3 (Autumn, 1997), 393-429.  



 49 

became a famous musician during his life0me and went on to write other works for the viola 

that are performed regularly. 

Two early works that Rebecca Clarke wrote are string duos for the viola and cello. The 

two pieces 0tled “Lullaby” and “Grotesque” were composed around 1916. As a pair, they make 

up a slow and fast movement. The Lullaby has both instruments playing melodic material with 

mutes throughout: 

 

 

 

Example 14: Rebecca Clarke – Lullaby for viola and cello, c.1916 



 50 

 

 In the Lullaby, both instruments play double stops throughout the piece to give the piece 

a lush chordal texture. In the Grotesque, Clarke employs the use of le] hand pizzicatos and 

double stop harmonics: 

 

 

 

Example 15: Rebecca Clarke – Grotesque for viola and cello, c.1916 

  

 The 0tle is somewhat misleading, as this work by Clarke is similar to a light scherzo 

movement in its musical character. For the double stop harmonics, she picks effects that sound 



 51 

impressive but work in a natural way on the instrument. Many of the double stops u0lize open 

strings and for the harmonics in 5ths, they can be achieved across the string with the same 

finger. Clarke also composed a third string duo for this same instrumenta0on, which is an 

arrangement of Londonderry Air. Titled “Irish Melody”, it was composed in 1918 and makes use 

of similar double stop techniques: 

 

 

 

Example 16: Rebecca Clarke – Irish Melody for viola and cello, 1918 

 



 52 

Paul Hindemith as a composer was important in wri0ng works for the viola throughout 

his career. During the Weimar Republic (1919-1933), Hindemith was among the leading 

performers and composers in Germany. His solo career was combined with being the violist for 

the Amar Quartet and he became a professor of composi0on at the Musikhochschule Berlin in 

1927. He eventually had to leave Germany with the rise of the Nazis, when his music was 

exhibited as “Entartete Musik” or Degenerate Music. He moved to Switzerland from 1937 and 

later the United States in 1940, where he became a US ci0zen.  

Hindemith’s concertos and sonatas for the viola are important works in the repertoire. 

He also composed a large amount of chamber music that includes the viola, including the Duet 

for Viola and Cello in 1934. The life of this piece started in a curious way. Hindemith was 

recording chamber music at Columbia Studios in London on January 23rd, 1934, but the 

musicians needed a second piece of the correct length to fit the other side of the 78-rpm 

record. He decided to compose a new piece to play with the cellist Emanuel Feuermann and 

composed this duet star0ng at 5am and finished at 8:20am the same morning. The two 

musicians learned the new piece in the studio and recorded it the same day it was composed. 

Originally 0tled “Scherzo for Viola and Cello”, it was later renamed as a duet and was published 

by Schoc in 1957.  

The composi0on is a difficult work for both players with the meter constantly changing 

throughout the duet. Hindemith composed the piece by using melodic mo0fs that reoccur. The 

important melodic figures that Hindemith uses throughout the piece o]en reappear 

transformed by modula0ng to different keys. A]er the introduc0on of the first four bars, the 

viola enters with the first theme of the string duo: 



 53 

 

 

 

 

The cello comes in at measure 29 with the same theme, slightly modified: 

 

 

  

The other main mo0fs that are heard are the chordal figures of both instruments playing 

double stops in measure 38, and the lyrical theme that starts in the cello in measure 56: 

 



 54 

 

 

 

 

 Compared to the last century, this style of string duo is very different for the viola with 

what it demands from the player. There is an abundance of musical markings for the 

performers. Performance instruc0ons are clearly marked throughout the work in respect to 

dynamics and ar0cula0ons. The range of both instruments is quite large, with both the viola and 

cello playing all registers of their instruments. This piece lacks a 0me signature because the 

meter changes too o]en for a 0me signature to be helpful.  

 The 20th century was also the first 0me that Western classical composi0ons came from 

composers with non-Western backgrounds. Paul Hindemith taught at Yale University from 1940 

to 1953 and one of his early students, Tan Xiaolin was one of the first Chinese composers to 



 55 

write a string duo for the viola. Tan Xiaolin (1911-1948) was born in Shanghai and came to the 

United States to study at Yale in 1939. His composi0ons o]en incorporate Chinese music and he 

composed a number of songs in Mandarin that are popular in China today.40 He returned to 

Shanghai and taught at the Shanghai Conservatory, but died in a hospital in 1948 when he was 

only 37 years old.  

 While there are only a few instrumental composi0ons wricen by Tan Xiaolin, his Duet for 

Violin and Viola, composed in 1943 is par0cularly interes0ng. Wricen during his studies with 

Hindemith, it was premiered with Hindemith playing the viola and with Tan Xiaolin playing the 

violin. It is influenced by Hindemith’s style, but makes use of the style of Chinese music 

throughout the piece. In the opening of the duo, a pentatonic scale is heard in the violin, which 

quickly modulates away from the original key center: 

 

 
40 Izquierdo, Arturo Irisarri. “ ‘I Should Have My Own Personality’: Iden3ty Nego3a3ons in Tan Xiaolin’s Art Songs.” 
Interna1onal Council for Tradi1onal Music 7th Symposium of the Study Group of Musics of East Asia, Hong Kong 
Bap3st University, 2022.  



 56 

 

 

Example 17: Tan Xiaolin – Duet for Violin and Viola, 1943 

 

 There are also techniques that are unconven0onal for the players for this 0me period. In 

the Scherzo movement, Tan Xiaolin writes alterna0ng le] hand pizzicatos which simulates the 

plucking technique of the pipa:  



 57 

 

 

 

 

 In the fourth movement Lento, the viola also emulates another Chinese instrument, the 

erhu, by sliding between notes: 

 



 58 

 

 

  

 

 

 



 59 

These techniques used to emulate Chinese instruments are unique for its 0me and gives 

this work an individual character. The modernist axtude that Tan Xiaolin had towards 

composing can be seen in the last movement, which is an inverted canon between the two 

instruments, displaced by three beats. The music is technically difficult to play and extremely 

dissonant, to the point where it sounds incoherent for much of the movement: 

 



 60 

 

 



 61 

 

 There is almost an academic quality to this movement, since it was composed in a way 

to show a certain contrapuntal technique. In this instance, the influence can be traced back to 

Hindemith’s teaching, but it is also a product of its 0me when modernism was expanding music 

in all direc0ons. The prac0cal side of performance o]en became secondary compared to the 

techniques used to compose the piece. While this movement is playable by musicians, it is very 

difficult to coordinate to the point where the music is played as wricen.  

 The change in repertoire from this 0me is drama0c compared to the last period of 

music. The trends that were seen in music from the early 20th century, such as new repertoire 

created for performers, would con0nue throughout the second half the century. As Western 

classical music became more diverse from divergent styles co-exis0ng, the increased diversity of 

composers would also be an important part of music a]er World War II.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 62 

Modern String Duos aher World War II 

 

 Music a]er the end of World War II in 1945 became more fragmented in terms of 

different styles co-exis0ng at the same 0me. In addi0on to more tradi0onal tonal music being 

composed, there were also movements such as minimalism, aleatoric music, serialism, and 

spectral music that have been composed during the same periods of 0me. The term post-

modernism is some0mes applied to music composed a]er World War II, but the period has also 

con0nued the trend of modernism found earlier in the century.41 For the sake of con0nuity, 20th 

century music to the present will be referred to as the Modern period in documen0ng string 

duos.  

 As was seen in music from the first few decades of the 20th century, there were 

increased technical demands put on performers. This o]en meant more difficult rhythms to 

perform, more difficult passages of notes, and other techniques to play. A]er the music of the 

Second Viennese School, some composers con0nued to push the boundaries of pitch and 

rhythm in serial music. Consider the technical precision that the string players would have to 

play with to play this example from Milton Babbic’s string duo “Soli e Duexni”, composed in 

1989: 

 
41 Pasler, Jann. Postmodernism. Oxford Music Online: hVps://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.ar3cle.40721 



 63 

 

Example 18: Milton Babbi` (1916-2011)  – Soli e Dueini (1989) 

 

In this example, there are extreme differences in dynamics, along with music whose 

notes are scacered throughout different registers of the instrument. There is very licle 

consistent stepwise mo0on and the amount of instruc0ons from the composer are frequent and 



 64 

very detailed. The actual theory behind a piece like this is also complicated in very different way 

from music of the past.42 

In many ways the string duo fits complexity in music well, because the coordina0on 

between two players can be easier than with a larger ensemble. There have been many leading 

composers who wrote string duos for the viola that are associated with modernism from this 

0me, including Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928-2007), George Perle (1915-2009), Burno Maderna 

(1920-1973), and George Rochberg (1918-2005), with many other examples of composers born 

a]er World War II.  

The addi0onal techniques that today’s violists must play are some0mes called “extended 

techniques” and can include a large and diverse variety of effects. On the viola, this could 

include percussive effects on the body of the instrument, bowing parts of the instrument not 

typically played (such as the tailpiece), striking the fingerboard with the le] hand, or tuning the 

viola differently.  

 A compila0on of extended techniques for the viola have been documented in a viola duo 

by the Irish violist-composer Garth Knox (b.1956) in his composi0on Viola Space for Two, 

Volume II. The eight duos in this volume include pieces based on the following techniques: 1. 

Sul pon0cello; 2. Sul tasto; 3. Glissando; 4. Pizzicato; 5. Tremolo, 6. Harmonics; 7. Quartertones; 

and 8. Bow direc0ons. All of the string duos in this collec0on use the viola in non-tradi0onal 

ways using extended techniques. In many ways, these pieces are like modern etudes, because 

they are created from the technique they highlight.   

 
42 Chiu, Chau-ming. “Composi3onal Tac3cs in Milton BabbiV’s Three Soli e Due>ni.” Thesis, Chinese University of 
Hong Kong, 2003.  



 65 

 Many of the extended techniques from this period found a unified approach with 

modernism in the music of the spectral school. Spectralism grew out of the idea that the 0mbre 

of music and the mathema0c basis of sound could be a composi0onal technique for composers. 

At IRCAM in Paris, research about how computers can be used to analyze music began and 

there are a few examples of string duos for viola that employ spectral techniques. One of the 

leading composi0ons associated with spectralism, Tristan Murail (b.1947) wrote a viola duo that 

explores some of these techniques: 

 

 

 



 66 

 

Example 19: Tristan Murail – Où tremblent les contours, for two violas (1970) 

  

 Outside the con0nua0ons of modernism, there are many ac0ve composers associated 

with minimalist or post-minimalist movements. Some composi0ons that fit this style are pieces 

by David Lang (b.1957, Broken, for Viola Duet), Nico Muhly (b.1981, Duet No.1 for Viola and 

Violoncello: Chorale Poindng Downwards), Caroline Shaw (b.1982, Limestone & Felt, for viola 

and cello), and Judd Greenstein (b.1979, K’Zohar Harakia, for viola and cello). These pieces are 

rooted in a more consonant musical language than the different schools of modernism.  

 One important trend that has con0nued throughout this contemporary period of music 

is a greater inclusivity towards composers of different races and genders. Past periods of 

Western classical music have focused almost exclusively on composi0ons wricen by European 

male composers, but there is now Western classical wricen all over the world by many different 

types of people. Because of efforts made by organiza0ons such as the American Viola Society 



 67 

and Sphinx Organiza0on, it is now easier to locate composi0ons wricen by underrepresented 

groups of composers.   

 One of the most difficult parts about this period of music is the lack of con0nuity 

between styles and composers. The individualism of the Roman0c period is an ideal that has 

con0nued throughout the 20th and 21st centuries without showing signs of changing. The variety 

of techniques and styles are unlike any other period of music before it and players have had to 

adapt to be flexible in how they play this repertoire. One of this musical period’s gi]s to 

performers is that there has been the greatest number of string duos wricen for the viola in the 

history of music. With new works wricen being wricen by composers from all types of 

backgrounds, located all around the world, the string duo will find new and interes0ng 

repertoire in the future.   

 



68

Composer Name and Dates Title of Work Number of Works Approximate Date Period of Music Published Edition
in Volume of Composition 

Violin and Viola

Adler, Samuel (b.1928) Duo for Eight Strings: A Duet for Violin and Viola 1 2020 Modern Theodore Presser
Aliani, Nicola (ca.1780-ca.1850) 3 Duos for Violin and Viola 3 ca.1820 Classical Manuscript
Amador, Carlos Posada (1908-1993) Dueto No. 1 1 1956 Modern
Amador, Carlos Posada (1908-1993) Seis variaciones sobre "Estrellia" de M.M. Ponce 1 1963 Modern Centro de Documentación Musical, Medellín
Amador, Carlos Posada (1908-1993) Dueto No. 2 Tema y varaciones sobre un nombre 1 1972 Modern
Amador, Carlos Posada (1908-1993) Dueto No. 3 1 1978 Modern
Amalia, Anna (1723-1787) Duet for Violin and Viola 1 1767 Classical Ars Femina
Amalia, Anna (1723-1787) Fugue for Violin and Viola 1 1776 Classical W. Wollenweber, München-Gräfelfing
Amon, Johann Andreas (1763-1825) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.2 6 Classical Imbault, Paris
Andersen, Karl (1903-1970) Fiddler's Catch for violin and viola 1 1955 Modern Norsk Musikforlag, Oslo
Andrix, George (b.1932) 14 Duets for Violin and Viola 14 1999 Modern Seesaw Music
Angerer, Paul (1927-2017) Duo for violin and viola 1 1951 Modern
Ardorino, Giovanni (ca.1800-ca.1870) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.1 6 Classical Manuscript
Asano, Koji (b.1974) Violin and Viola Studies 1-7 7 2005 Modern
Atehortúa, Blas Emilio (1943-2020) Suite, Op.177 1 1978 Modern Unpublished, Manuscript
Atehortúa, Blas Emilio (1943-2020) Duo, Op.133 1 1985 Modern Unpublished, Manuscript
Avshalomov, Jacob (1919-2013) Poem-Fantasies 1 1994 Modern Howlet Press-Music
Babbitt, Milton (1916-2011) Soli e duettini 1 1989 Modern Peters
Badings, Henk (1907-1987) Sonate 1 1928 Modern Donemus
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.1 1 2007 Modern Theodore Presser
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.2 1 2008 Modern Composers Library Edition, Theodore Presser
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.3 1 2009 Modern Theodore Presser
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.4 1 2012 Modern Composers Library Edition, Theodore Presser
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.5 1 2012 Modern Theodore Presser
Baksa, Robert (1938-2023) Duo Sonata No.6 1 2014 Modern Theodore Presser
Banks, Brian (b.1955) Six Variants: Prolegomenon I 1 Modern
Barab, Seymour (1921-2014) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 1994 Modern Seesaw Music Corp.
Barkauskas, Vytautas (1931-2020) Duo Sonata, Op.73 1 1984 Modern Music Information Centre, Lithuania
Barlowe, Amy (b.1952) Three Celtic Pieces 1 2007 Modern Ovation Press
Barmann, Johann Friedrich (1784-1847) 3 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.6 3 1805 Romantic Johann André
Barmann, Johann Friedrich (1784-1847) 3 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.7 3 Romantic Johann André
Barrière, Étienne Bernard Joseph (1748-1818) Duet No.4 for violin and viola 1 Classical International Music, New York
Barthélémon, François-Hippolyte (1741-1808) 6 Duets 6 Classical J. Fentum London
Baudiot, Charles Nicolas (1773-1849) 28 Études de tranposition, Op.38 28 Classical Mme Espinasse, Paris
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Chase for Violin and Viola, Op.3022 1 2023 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola in D minor, Op.2423 1 2021 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola in D major, Op.2424 1 2021 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola in Modal Harmony, Op.2667 1 2021 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola, Op.1210 1 2018 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola, Op.1211 1 2018 Modern Self Published
Beatty, Stephen W. (b.1938) Duet for Violin and Viola, Op.2015 1 2018 Modern Self Published
Beck, Conrad (1901-1989) Duo for violin and viola 1 1934-35 Modern Schott
Becker, Günther (1924-2007) Doppelte Ebenen 1 1985 Modern Breitkopf & Härtel
Bentzen, Ove (b.1965) Duoer for violin og viola, Op.81 1 1994 Modern MUFO, Morud
Bentzon, Niels Viggo (1919-2000) Duo, Op.539 1 1989 Modern Wilhelm Hansen
Berleant, Arnold (b.1932) Duo for violin and viola 1 1982 Modern Self Published
Bertola, Eduardo (1939-1996) Duo dos temperamentos e das cores 1 1984 Modern
Bertrán Ventejo, Moisès (b.1967) Secretos compartidos, Op.56 1 2012 Modern Self Published
Biggs, John (b.1932) Excursions 1 Modern Consort Press
Blake, Benjamin (1751-1827) 6 Duets, Op.1 6 Classical William Napier, London
Blake, Benjamin (1751-1827) 6 Duets, Op.2 6 1781 Classical J. Blundell, London
Blank, Allan (1925-2013) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 1972 Modern American Composers Alliance
Blees, Ulrich (b.1974) Duet for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Doblinger Verlag
Blumenthal, Joseph von (1782-1856) 3 Grand Concertant Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.81 3 Classical Freidrich Hofmeister, Leipzig



69

Bodenstein-Hoyme, Ruth (1924-2006) Fünf Miniaturen 5 Modern Hofmeister
Boisgallais, Jacques (1927-2021) Musique - Violin and Viola 1 Modern Editions Durand
Bolcom, William (b.1938) Session II for violin and viola 1 Modern Merion Music
Bond, Victoria (b.1945) Woven 1 2005 Modern Carl Fischer
Borghi, Luigi (fl. 1745-1806) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola 6 Classical Antonio Zatta e Figli, Venice
Braun, Wilhelm Theodor Johannes (1796-1867) Duo for Violin and Viola, Op.20 1 Classical Wollenweber, Munchen
Bréval, Jean-Baptiste (1753-1823) 6 Duets, Op.19 6 1785 Classical J. Cooper, London
Brophy, Gerard (b.1975) Passions within 1 1988 Modern Australian Music Centre
Brown, Chris Cree (b.1953) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 2011 Modern SOUNZ, Centre for New Zealand Music
Bruni, Antonio Bartolomeo (1757-1821) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.2 6 Classical Richault, Paris
Bruni, Antonio Bartolomeo (1757-1821) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.4 6 Classical Janet et Cotelle, Paris
Bruni, Antonio Bartolomeo (1757-1821) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.25 6 Classical Duhan, Paris
Bruno-Viela, Lucio (b.1968) Duo, Op.35 1 2018-19 Modern Gebrüder Stark Musikverlag
Bruno-Viela, Lucio (b.1968) Dúo, Op.37b 1 2021 Modern Stretta Music
Buchenberg, Wolfram (b.1962) Drei Miniaturen 3 Modern Carus
Burkhard, Willy (1900-1955) Kleine Serenade 1 Modern Bärenreiter
Burswold, Lee (1933-2017) Five Duos for Violin and Viola 5 Modern Latham Music Enterprises
Busch, Adolf (1891-1952) Duet, BoO 8 1 Romantic Edition 49
Busch, Dennis (b.1947) Duo Concertante, Op.324 1 Modern
Busch, Dennis (b.1947) Scherzo & Fugue, Op.477 1 Modern
Busch, William (1901-1945) Passacaglia 1 1939 Modern Chester Music, London
Caldwell, James (1938-2006) Duo for violin and viola 1 Modern Self Published
Cambini, Giuseppe Maria (1746-1825) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Libre 5 6 Classical Mr Porro, Mme Baillon, Paris
Cambini, Giuseppe Maria (1746-1825) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.14 6 Classical Sieber, Paris
Campagnoli, Bartolomeo (1751-1827) L'Illusion de la viole d'amour, Op.16 1 1811 Classical Breitkopf & Härtel
Campbell-Hunt, Alexander (b.1988) Lara Cash Man Duet 1 Modern SOUNZ, Centre for New Zealand Music
Cannabich, Christian (1731-1798) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola 6 Classical Simrock, Hamburg
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Mario (1895-1968) Sonata (Divertimento) for violin and viola 1 1945 Modern Theodore Presser
Cerha, Friedrich (1926-2023) 14 Scenes for violin and viola 14 Modern Doblinger
Cervetti, Sergio (b.1940) Sunset at Noon, Four Epitaphs in Times of AIDS 1 1996 Modern Manuscript
Chailley, Jacques (1910-1999) Improvisation a deux 1 Modern Alphonse Leduc
Chauveau, Bruno (b.1989) Duo Violon, Violon Alto 1 2008 Modern Self Published
Chaves Aguiar, Ernani Henrique (b.1950) Duos de Prados 1 1986 Modern
Chihara, Paul (b.1938) Duo Concertante 1 1989 Modern Edition Peters
Clarke, Frederick Robert Charles (1931-2009) Suite for Violin and Viola 1 Modern The Frederick Harris Music Co.
Claro, Samuel (1934-1994) Duo 1 1956 Modern Unpublished, Manuscript
Cleary, David (b.1954) The Deeper Magic 1 1996 Modern
Coates, Eric (1886-1957) Lyrical Canon 1 Romantic Manuscript
Cohen, Gerald (b.1960) Aria and Scherzo 1 Modern Oxford University Press
Cohn, James (1928-2021) Duo in C 1 1952 Modern Self Published
Contreras, Manena (b.1966) Mosaico 1 2006 Modern Self Published
Copland, Aaron (1900-1990) Elegies for Violin and Viola 1 1932 Modern Unpublished
Coral, Leonardo (b.1962) El espacio de lo intangible 1 2009 Modern
Corrêa, James (b.1968) Partita 1 1995 Modern
Crémont, Pierre (ca.1784-1846) 3 Grand Duos Concertants, Op.12 3 1824 Classical H.A. Probst, Leipzig
Crivici, Romano (b.1953) Funky Number, for violin and viola 1 1998 Modern Australian Music Centre
Crockett, Donald (b.1951) To be sung on the water 1 Modern MMB, St. Louis
Crosmer, Jonathan (b.1985) Duet in A major 1 2002 Modern Self Published
Dahl, Ingolf (1912-1970) Little Canonic Suite for violin and viola 1 1970 Modern J. Boonin
Daìlìanìs, Joanna (b.1952) Duango 1 1994 Modern
David, Karl Heinrich (1884-1951) Capriccio für Violine und Bratsche 1 1934 Modern Hug & Co., Zurich
David, Thomas Christian (1925-2006) Duo-Sonate 1 1980 Modern Doblinger Verlag
Davidson, Robert (b.1965) Adeney Cycle 1 1990 Modern Self Published
Davies, Peter Maxwell (1934-2016) Midhouse Air 1 Modern Chester Music
Davis, Jordyn (b.1995) What Have You Done (Who Are You) 1 2018 Modern
Deyoe, Nicholas 1560, for violin and viola 1 2016 Modern Self Published
Diamond, Arline (b.1925) Perambulation 1 Modern
Domansky, Alfred (1897-1959) 3 duos, violon et alto 3 Modern A. Cranz, Bruxelles



70

Dreyfus, George (b.1928) Sonata for Violin and Viola 1 1989 Modern
Dusapin, Pascal (b.1955) Ohimé: duo no.1 pour violon & alto 1 Modern Éditions Salabert
Ebenhöh, Horst (1930-2022) Duo-Sonate für Violine und Viola, Op.99, No.1 1 Modern Musikverlag Hehenwarter
Egge, Klaus (1906-1979) Duo Concertante, Op.23 1 Modern Lyche
Eggermann, Fritz (1898-1982) Six Sketches for violin and viola 6 Modern Universal Edition
Egk, Werner (1901-1983) Musik für Geige und Bratsche 1 1926 Modern Schott, Mainz
Eichner, Ernst (1740-1777) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.10 6 Classical Adolph Nagel Verlag, Hannover
Einaudi, Ludovico (b.1955) Duetti n. 1, 2, e 3 per violino e viola 3 Modern Ricordi
Elizondo, José (b.1972) Danzas Latinoamericanas 1 1998 Modern
Elizondo, José (b.1972) Leyenda del noble caballero 1 2020 Modern
Elizondo, José (b.1972) Limoncello 1 2018 Modern
Elizondo, José (b.1972) Bajo el cielo estrellado del Rín 1 2020 Modern
Endo, Masao (b.1947) Duo Scroll 1 1 2005/2010 Modern Self Published
Engel, Yehuda (1924-1991) In memoriam: Elegy for violin and viola 1 Modern Or-Tav, Tel-Aviv
Escalante, Eduardo Alberto (1937) Dúo No. 4 1 1981 Modern
Escalona-Mijares, Mirtru (b.1976) Siete pieczas infantiles 7 1995 Modern Unpublished
Ewert, Maximillian Cornelius Jehuda (b.1974) Duos for violin and viola 1 Modern
Faegre, Brendan (b.1985) Four Koans 1 2012 Modern Donemus
Falabella, Roberto (1926-1958) Duetto 1 Modern Unpublished, Manuscript
Fenner, Burt (1929-2013) Three Pieces for Violin and Viola 3 Modern Manuscript
Fernandez Cabrera, Sergio (b.1962) Tres piezas 3 2004 Modern
Ferraz, Silvio (b.1959) Anel Anemic 1 1979 Modern
Ferritto, John (1937-2010) Violin and Viola Duo, Op.35 1 2000 Modern American Composers Alliance
Fine, Elaine (b.1959) Partly Sunny 1 2005 Modern Self Published
Fine, Elaine (b.1959) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 2007/2014 Modern Self Published
Fine, Elaine (b.1959) I Have Heard the Hermaids Singing, Each to Each 1 2013 Modern Self Published
Fine, Elaine (b.1959) In an Old House in Paris 1 2020 Modern Self Published
Finnis, Edmund (b.1984) Brother, for violin and viola 1 Modern Edmond Finnis
Florczak, Lukas (b.1994) Duet for Violin and Viola, Mn.84 1 2012 Modern Self Published
Flury, Urs Joseph (b.1941) Avevo un fratellino, Variations on an Italian Folk Song 1 Modern Amadeus Verlag
Flury, Urs Joseph (b.1941) Rousseau-Suite for Violin and Viola 1 1999 Modern Amadeus, Winterthur
Forner, Andre (b.1959) Suite en duo 1 Modern
Franco, Johan (1908-1988) Sonatina for Violin and Viola 1 1962 Modern American Composers Alliance
Freitag, Erik (b.1940) Sonate "Nacht-Stücke" 1 1980 Modern Doblinger
Frenkel, Stefan (1902-1979) Duet for Violn and Viola in D major 1 1955 Modern Thomas A. Frenkel
Frenkel, Stefan (1902-1979) Duet for Vioin and Viola in G minor 1 1920 Modern Thomas A. Frenkel
Fried, Minita (1914-) Duo 1 1945 Modern Ediciones Musicales Politonía, Buenos Aires
Frounberg, Ivar (b.1950) D 1 1986 Modern Samfundet til Ugdivelse af Dansk Musik, Copenhagen
Fuchs, Robert (1847-1927) 12 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.60 12 1898 Romantic C. Hofbauer, Leipzig
Gaathaug, Morten (b.1955) 5 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.2b 5 Modern Norsk Musikforlag, Oslo
Gaburo, Kenneth (1926-1993) Ideas and Transformations No.1 1 Modern Theodore Presser
Gál, Hans (1890-1987) Divertimento for Violin and Viola, Op.90, No.3 1 1969 Modern Simrock
Galay, Daniel (b.1945) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 2007 Modern Israel Music Center
Gallitelli, Joseph (b.1916) Inventions No.3 1 Modern
Gard, Jules (fl. 1835) 3 Grand Concertante Duets for Violin and Viola 3 Classical A. Petit, Paris
Gardel, Carlos (1890-1935) Por Una Cabeza 1 Modern
Gardner, Maurice (1909-2002) Suite for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Staff Music Publishing Co.
Garlick, Antony (1927-2000) Peter Duos for violin and viola 1 Modern Seesaw Music Corp.
Gatti, Luigi (1740-1817) 6 Sonatas for Violin and Viola 6 Classical Doblinger
Gebauer, Michel-Joseph (1763-1812) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola 6 1782 Classical Sieber, Paris
Genin, Vladimir (b.1958) o Du o 1 2008 Modern
Genzmer, Harald (1909-2007) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Ries & Erler Musikverlag
Gerson, Georg (1790-1825) Duet for Violin and Viola, G.32 1 1809 Classical Christian Mondrup
Gerster, Ottmar (1897-1969) Divertimento für Violine and Viola 1 Modern Schott, Mainz
Gervasoni, Stefano (b.1962) Masques et berg: tre duetti per violino e viola 1 2009 Modern Edizioni Suvini Zerboni
Ghébart, Giuseppe (1796-1870) 3 Duos, Op.57 3 Romantic Richault, Paris
Ghébart, Giuseppe (1796-1870) 3 Duos, Op.58 3 Romantic Richault, Paris
Giardini, Felice (1716-1796) Duet for Violin and Viola in B-flat major 1 Classical Pablo Ramis



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Giardini, Felice (1716-1796) 12 Duetti for Violin and Viola 12 Classical Gems Music Publications
Gilbert, Anthony (1934-2023) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 1963 Modern
Gilbert, Anthony (1934-2023) Gioco dei Pari, for violin and viola 1 1962 Modern
Giuliani, Giovanni Francesco (1760-1820) 6 Duets (or Trios) 6 Classical Poggiali, Firenze
Glasser, Stanley (1926-2018) Four inventions for violin and viola 4 Modern Piers Press, Banbury
Glatz, Klaus (b.1938) Ständchen für Almut 1 1999 Modern Musicalion
Goldschmidt, Berthold (1903-1996) Berceuse 1 Modern Boosey & Hawkes
Gómez-Egaña, Pedro (b.1976) Cinco Variaciones 1 Modern
Goshev, Jordan (b.1960) Contrasts for violin and viola 1 2010 Modern Union of Bulgarian Composers
Grayson, Martin (b.1953) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 2008 Modern Self Published
Green, Anthony R. (b.1984) Collide-oscope IV 1 2016 Modern
Greenbaum, Stuart (b.1966) Sonata for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Australian Music Centre
Grier, Jon (b.1953) Symbionts for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Self Published
Grime, Helen (b.1981) To see the summer sky 1 2009 Modern Chester Music, London
Guerra-Peixe, Cesar (1914-1994) Duo 1 1946 Modern
Hailstork, Adolphus (b.1941) Divertimento 1 1999 Modern Theodore Presser
Hailstork, Adolphus (b.1941) Two Novelettes 2 2018 Modern Theodore Presser
Hall, Richard (1903-1982) Suite for violin and viola 1 Modern Hinrichsen Edition
Halvorsen, Johan (1864-1935) Sarabande con variazioni 1 Romantic International, New York
Halvorsen, Johan (1864-1935) Passacaglia in G minor on a Theme by Handel 1 1987 Romantic International Music Co., New York
Hänsel, Peter (1770-1831) 3 Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.26 3 1820 Classical Schott
Hansen, Theodore (1935-2018) Mirrors, for violin and viola 1 1997 Modern Seesaw Music Corp.
Harding, Kenneth (1903-1992) Scherzo: (Enigma), for violin and viola 1 Modern J. & W. Chester, London
Hatch, Mark Grape and Hops 1 Modern
Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732-1809) 6 Sonatas for Violin and Viola, Hob. VI:1-6 6 Classical G. Henle
Haydn, Michael (1737-1806) 4 Sonatas for Violin and Viola 4 Classical Breitkopf & Härtel
Hegdal, Magne (b.1944) Amaduo en homangem a W. Amadeo M 1 2006 Modern MIC Norsk Musikkinfomasjon
Heller, Barbara (b.1936) Dialogues, 9 Duets for Violin and Viola 9 2012-2013 Modern Schott, Mainz
Henze, Hans Werner (1926-2012) Allegra e Boris: duetto concertante per violino e viola 1 Modern Schott, Mainz
Hindson, Matthew (b.1968) Two Marine Portraits 1 1997 Modern Faber Music
Hindson, Matthew (b.1968) Christsietina's Magic Fantasy 1 2002 Modern Faber Music
Hlaváč, Miroslav (1923-2008) Musica dialogica: dialgues for violin and viola 1 1965 Modern Panton
Hoffmeister, Franz Anton (1754-1812) 3 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.7 3 1788 Classical Hoffmeister & Comp., Vienna
Hoffmeister, Franz Anton (1754-1812) 3 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.13 3 1790 Classical J. Schmitt, Amsterdam
Hoffmeister, Franz Anton (1754-1812) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.19 6 1805 Classical Johann André
Hoffmeister, Franz Anton (1754-1812) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.65 6 1803 Classical Johann André
Holliger, Heinz (b.1939) Drei Skizzen: für Violine und Viola 3 2006 Modern Schott, Mainz
Holliger, Heinz (b.1939) Duöli: 24 Small Duets 24 2008-2009 Modern Schott, Mainz
Holmboe, Vagn (1909-1996) Duo concertante, Op.83 1 Modern Wilhelm Hansen, Copenhagen
Hovhannisyan, Gor (b.1975) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 2011 Modern Self Published
Hovhannisyan, Gor (b.1975) 12 Melodies with Drone 12 1994 Modern Self Published
Hristova, Maritsa Bulgarian Song 1 2007 Modern
Huet, Nicolas (fl. 1803) 6 Duos Concertants, Op.4 6 1800 Classical Bernard, Paris
Hush, David Contrapunctus for violin and viola 1 1999 Modern Hush Edition 
Hvoslef, Ketil (b.1939) Duodu for violin og bratsj 1 1982 Modern Pizzicato Verlag Helvetia
Igudesman, Aleksey (b.1973) Violin & Viola & More: 10 Duets for Violin and Viola 10 Modern Universal Edition
Insulari, P.C. (fl. 1770) 6 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.1 6 Classical Mr. St. Paul, Paris
Irsen, Heinz (1906-1989) Duo, Op.377 1 1984 Modern Werner Icking
Jacob, Gordon (1895-1984) Prelude, Passacaglia, and Fugue for violin and viola 1 Modern Stainer & Bell, London
Jaffe, David A. (b.1955) String Quartet for Two Instruments 1 1983 Modern Terra Non Firma Press
Jahn, Raimund (1924-2011) Zwei Dialoge für Violine und Viola, Op.32 2 1985/86 Modern
Jahn, Raimund (1924-2011) Chaconne für Violine und Viola, Op.37 1 1987 Modern
Janlet, D.F. (fl. 1780-1785) 3 Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.1 3 1780 Classical J. Schmitt, Amsterdam
Jansa, Leopold (1795-1875) Three Duos, Op.70 3 1847 Romantic C.F. Peters
Jensen, Walther G. (1908-1997) Duo for violin og viola, Op.39 1 1980 Modern Samfundet til udgivelse af dansk musik, Copenhagen
Johnson, Geir (1953-2021) I due martelli 1 Modern Norsk Musikkinformasjon, Oslo
Johnson, Tom (b.1939) Counting to Eight 1 1981 Modern Withdrawn 
Jones, Charles (1910-1997) Duo for violin and viola 1 Modern Manuscript



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Jongen, Joseph (1873-1953) Adagio in E major, Op.22, No.1 1 Romantic
Joubert, John (1927-2019) Six Miniatures after Kilvert, Op.140 6 1997 Modern Novello & Company
Kaczkowski, Joachim (1789-1829) Duo in A-flat major for Violin and Viola, Op.14 1 Classical Amadeus, Winterthur
Kalliwoda, Johann Wenzel (1801-1866) Duets for Violin and Viola, Op.208 1 1880 Romantic C.F. Peters
Kammel, Antonín (1730-1784) 6 Divertimentos, Op.17 6 Classical J. Schmitt, Amsterdam
Kammel, Antonín (1730-1784) 6 Duets, Op.15 6 Classical J.J. Hummel, Berlin & Amsterdam
Kan-no, Shigeru (b.1959) Mini-werk X 1 2013 Modern Self Published
Kander, Susan (b.1957) Two Hornéd Demons: Scherzo for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Notevole Music Publ.
Kavash, Deborah (b.1949) Duo 1 2015 Modern
Kazandzhiev, Vasil (b.1934) Duo concertante for violin and viola 1 Modern Pancho Vladigerov National Academy of Music
Keay, Nigel (b.1955) Visconti Variations 1 2008 Modern SOUNZ, Centre for New Zealand Music
Kelch, Carleton (1925-2022) Baldwin Duo for violin and viola, Op.56 1 Modern C. Kelch
Kerr, Louise Lincoln (1882-1977) Etude for Violin and Viola 1 1969 Modern
Khym, Charles (ca.1770-after 1819) Grand Duo for Violin and Viola, Op.10 1 Classical Gombart et Comp., Augsburg
Kishino, Malika (b.1971) Lamento II: Based on a Folk Song from Fukishima 1 2013/2014-21 Modern Edizioni Suvini Zerboni
Kleczyński, Jan Baptysta (1756-1828) 22 Variations, Op.3 1 Classical Eufonium, Gdynia
Klein, Gideon (1919-1945) Duo for Violin and Viola 1 1939-40 Modern Bote & Bock, Berlin
Klengel, Paul (1854-1935) Serenade for Violin and Viola, Op.45 1 Romantic Amadeus, Winterthur
Kobjela, Detlef (1944-2018) Duo for Violin and Viola, Op.1 1 1968 Modern
Koechlin, Charles (1867-1950) Idylle, Op.155bis 1 1936 Romantic Dillard, Paris
Koumans, Rudolf (1929-2017) Twee Hongaarse Canons 1 1962 Modern Donemus
Kraft, Leo (1922-2014) Partita 2: for violin and viola 1 1961 Modern Manuscript
Kreutzer, Rodolphe (1766-1831) 6 Duos Dialogués, Op.2 6 Classical M. Boyer, Paris
Kreuz, Emil (1867-1932) Four Duos for Violin and Viola, Op.39 4 Romantic Amadeus-Verlag, Winterthur
Krommer, Franz (1759-1831) Sonata for Violin with Accompaniment of Viola in D major, Op.27 1 Classical Artaria, Vienna
Krommer, Franz (1759-1831) Sonata for Violin with Accompaniment of Viola in D major, Op.42 1 Classical
Kubizek, Augustin (1918-2009) Kleine Suite, Op.5, No.2 1 1953 Modern Doblinger
Kugel, Michael  (b.1946) Duo-Sonata 1 1979 Modern
Kühnl, Claus (b.1957) Divertimento for Violin and Viola 1 Modern Breitkopf & Härtel
Kuprevičius, Giedrius (b.1944) Small Talks for violin and viola 1 Modern Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija, Vilnius
Kuula, Toivo (1883-1918) Kanon 1 1904 Romantic Yukaghir
Lacerda, Osvaldo (1927-2011) Fuga e postlúdio 1 1999 Modern Coleçao de obras Digitalizadas, BPMB/ABM, Rio de Janeiro/RJ 2013, LD-OL0336
Lamotte, Franz (ca.1751-1780) 6 Duos for Violin and Viola 6 1777 Classical Melle Girard, Paris
Latham, Lynne (b.1960) Fifteen Duets for Violin and Viola 15 Modern Latham Music
Laufer, Norbert (b.1960) … in Bewegung … 1 1996 Modern Edition Dohr
Lazarof, Henri (1932-2013) Anida: Duo Concertante 1 1998 Modern Merion Music Inc.
Lebrun, Ludwig August (1752-1790) 6 Duos, Op.4 6 1785 Classical Götz, Mannheim
Lee, Hae-Sung (b.1961) Sae for violin and viola 1 Modern musesohn
Lee, Thomas Oboe (b.1945) Voilà: Seven Movements for Violin and Viola 1 2001 Modern Departed Feathers Music
Lefkoff, Gerald (b.1930) Double Play 1 1996 Modern Glyphic Press
Leitermeyer, Fritz (1925-2006) 12 Dialoge, Op.58 12 1974 Modern Doblinger
Lemberger, Werner (b.1968) Duosonate 1 1996 Modern
Liang, Lei (b.1972) Gobi Canticle 1 2005/2010 Modern Schott
Lidl, Andreas (ca.1740-1789) 6 Duos, Op.3 6 Classical B. Hummel et Fils, The Hague
Lidl, Andreas (ca.1740-1789) 6 Duos, Op.6 6 Classical Skillern, Lon