Viola sonata
The viola sonata is a sonata for viola, sometimes with other instruments, usually piano. The earliest viola sonatas are difficult to date for a number of reasons:
- in the Baroque era, there were many works written for the viola da gamba, including sonatas (the most famous being Johann Sebastian Bach's three, now most often played on the cello)
- in the Classical era and early Romantic, there were few works written with viola specifically in mind as solo instrument; it was more typical to publish a work or set, like Georges Onslow's opus 16 cello sonatas, or Johannes Brahms's opus 120 clarinet sonatas in the late 19th century, that specified the viola as an alternate.
- The Brahms may be the first repertory sonatas for the instrument, alternates with an independent life and a performance history.
Work list
- Malcolm Arnold
- sonata op. 17 for viola and piano (1947)
- Arnold Bax
- sonata for viola and piano in C minor (1922)
- fantasy sonata for viola and harp (1927)
- Arthur Benjamin
- sonata in E minor, 1942
- Arthur Bliss
- sonata for viola and piano
- York Bowen
- sonata no. 1 in C minor
- sonata no. 2 in F
- Johannes Brahms
- Sonata in F minor
- Sonata in E-flat, alternate versions of the clarinet sonatas opp. 120 nos. 1 and 2, the first commonly played sonatas on the modern viola
- Arthur Butterworth
- sonata for viola and piano
- Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco
- sonata for viola and harp (opus 144 — the cello and harp sonata is if not a later work, published later)
- Paul Chihara
- sonata for viola and piano (1996)
- Rebecca Clarke
- sonata for viola and piano (1919)
- Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf
- sonatas for viola and piano
- Felix Draeseke
- sonata in C minor (1892)
- sonata in F (1901–2) both originally for the viola alta
- Ross Lee Finney (composer)
- sonata for viola and piano
- Robert Fuchs
- sonata for viola and piano op. 86 in D minor
- Roberto Gerhard
- sonata for viola and piano (1946) — later reworked as his cello sonata
- Mikhail Glinka
- sonata for viola and piano in D minor (incomplete) (1835)
- Hans Werner Henze
- viola sonata (1979)
- Kurt Hessenberg
- sonata op. 94
- Paul Hindemith
- viola sonatas with and without piano
- Vagn Holmboe
- sonata for solo viola
- Arthur Honegger
- sonata (1920)
- Alan Hovhaness
- Johann Nepomuk Hummel
- Sonata for viola op. 5 no. 3 (of how many?) from 1798.
- Gordon Jacob
- sonata no. 1 (1949)
- sonata no. 2 (1978)
- Paul Juon
- sonata op. 15 in D (1901)
- sonata op. 82 in F minor (version of clarinet sonata) (1923)
- Aram Khachaturian
- sonata for viola solo
- Friedrich Kiel
- sonata op. 67 in G minor
- Ernst Krenek
- sonata for viola solo
- Victor Legley
- sonata
- Bohuslav Martinu
- at least one, poss two sonatas for viola and piano
- Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy
- sonata in C minor (1824?)
- Darius Milhaud
- two? sonatas for viola and piano
- Georges Onslow
- two sonatas op. 16 (played on cello or viola)
- Max Reger
- three sonatas opp 49 1 and 2 and op 107 (alternates of clarinet sonatas)
- George Rochberg
- sonata in F minor (1979)
- Alessandro Rolla
- sonatas for viola with continuo
- Nino Rota
- sonata in C (1934-5, revised 1970)
- Anton Rubinstein
- sonata op. 49 in F minor (1855)
- Peter Sculthorpe
- sonata for viola and percussion
- Dmitri Shostakovich
- sonata op. 147 in C minor (1975)
- David Stanley Smith
- sonata
- Eduard Tubin
- sonata (1965)
- Moisei Vainberg
- Sonata for Solo Viola No. 1 (Vainberg) opus 107 (1971)
- Sonata for Solo Viola No. 2 (Vainberg) opus 123 (1978)
- Sonata for Solo Viola No. 3 (Vainberg) opus 135 (1982)
- Sonata for Solo Viola No. 4 (Vainberg) opus 136 (1983) ([3])
- Henri Vieuxtemps
- sonata in B-flat (1863 or before)
External Links
- Review of Concert with Arnold Viola Sonata
- The history of Draeseke's Viola Alta Sonatas
- A Mendelssohn Chamber Worklist with Dates
- Schott's page for Nino Rota
- A Viola Sonata Repertoire Page
- And another repertoire page with dates
- Primrose Festival (information with dates also)