George Andrix is a lifelong player of the viola alta, who wrote this piece in 2012, the first of an undetermined number of Sketches for the viola alta. Published in the Journal of the American Viola Society, Spring 2012, it is in ternary form, in a modernized Romantic style reminiscent of Max Reger and Adolf Busch.
How can Bach's 'Cello Suites be viola alta repertoire? Their first publication for viola was this Hermann Ritter transcription for viola alta of the first four Suites, which he used in teaching as early as 1889. Surprisingly faithful for their time, they also provide a fascinating picture of late 19th-century Bach performing practice and scholarship: which manuscripts are prioritized in Ritter's transcription, his solutions to certain notational ambiguities, his choice of bowings and ornamentation, all show a fine musical mind struggling with problems that vex violists today. Why only the first four suites were included we do not know, but likely Ritter was not willing to resort to scordature or rearrangement of chords for the fifth suite, or to perform the major surgery the sixth suite requires to be suitable for the viola alta. (The five-string version did not exist when this transcription was prepared.)
Ritter did not intend these transcriptions for the concert stage, but for practice and teaching, but refers to them as "splendid study material for the Altgeige," which he wished to make available to students and teachers. This was not unusual in his time; the few 'cellists who ventured to perform these works solo in public were frequently ridiculed by reviewers.
Like Ritter's transcription of 'cello suites, above, his student Clemens Meyer made the first viola transcription, intended for the viola alta and dedicated to Ritter, of the Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin. Meyer, while also remarkably adherent to Bach's notes and bowings, supplies articulation and dynamic suggestions that are typical of his time.
Three character pieces for viola alta and piano: 1. Einsam; 2. Ein Tanz; and 3. Im Maien. They offer some technical and musical challenges to intermediate players of both parts.
Friedrich Beda, was a viola alta minor under Hermann Ritter and accompanied his students at the piano. In addition to some workmanlike transcriptions, he wrote for viola alta and piano this rather challenging Romanze. It is in ternary form, opening and closing with a singing Andante con moto with a more active, technically-involved middle section. It is not only enjoyable music, but also an example of Ritter's technical expectations of a viola alta student at Würzburg.
Another work by a Ritter student. Of this set of three pieces, a Lied ohne Worte, a Melodie, and a Polacca, the author of this site has only seen the Melodie, which lies entirely in the middle and upper ranges of the viola alta; it does not require the C string at all. It is a lovely, wistful movement that suits the character of the viola alta well.
Cherubini's Ave Maria was originally written for voice, english horn, and strings, but Hermann Ritter, presumably wishing to perform it with his wife, the singer Justine Ritter-Häcker, transcribed it for voice, viola alta, and piano or organ, dedicating it to her. A challengs for the viola alta player is to create a clear tonal distinction between the parts originally written for strings and the true obbligato parts. A very beautiful work, rewarding for singer and viola alta player (and possibly less so for the pianist).
Felix Draeseke wrote this sonata for Hermann Ritter's student, Rudolf Remmele, with whom Draeseke taught at the Dresden conservatory. It is a powerful, intellectual work in three movements, with tightly integrated viola alta and piano parts, and a restrained, songful, exceptionally beautiful slow movement. Draeseke's music, like that of Max Reger, reveals its beauties with study and attention; nothing is superficial, which makes this work difficult to convey in a single hearing. Nevertheless, it is very much worth the effort.
A mutual associate, Theodor Röhmeyer, requested that Draeseke write a work for Hermann Ritter. Ritter was aware of the first sonata, and he welcomed a work from Draeseke, whom he admired. Everything said about the first sonata goes for this one, but more so. Despite his admiration for Draeseke and the quality of the works, there is no evidence that Ritter ever performed either work, or attempted to follow through on his promise to help Draeseke find a publisher for it.
Theophil Forchhammer, of whose works few have survived, is mostly remembered as a composer for the organ, but he wrote more than one work for the viola alta. This Ständchen is written for either violin or viola alta; for the violin, the key is B major, and for viola alta, D major. It is dedicated to Hermann Ritter and his friend and frequent recital partner, the violinist Eduard Herrmann. Like much of Forchhammer's music, it has a devotional character.
Richard Hofmann was the brother of Heinrich Hofmann, a viola alta student of Hermann Ritter. He wrote pedagogical works for many instruments. These fifteen intermediate etudes, unlike those of Clemens Meyer, are not particularly interesting, and the fingerings, which are more idiomatic for an ordinary viola than the larger viola alta, have a disconcerting tendency to disappear at the very moment when a fingering suggestion would be most welcome.
Reinhold Jockische was a violinist and composer most remembered for his brief catechism of violin-playing. Of these three lyric pieces, the author has only been able to examine the Andante cantabile, number 3. It is a competently written, quite effective piece that deploys the full singing voice of the viola alta in all its registers.
A fine, lyrical work for viola alta and piano or orchestra by a composer often hailed as Wagner's successor, and a close friend of Hermann Ritter. It displays the full range of the instrument to excellent advantage, clearly stemming from long association with it and its inventor. (Its notation is hard not to see as a lighthearted jab at Hermann Ritter, whose publications avoided the treble clef wherever possible: it is entirely in the treble clef, except for one passage that descends too low — which is in the bass clef.)
Dedicated "A Paul-Louis NEUBERTH, pour sa 'Viola-Alta'", it is in four movements: Très modéré, Intermède: "Schumann", Très lent, and Assez animé.
A critic for the Musical Courier wrote of it in performance by Neuberth, "After a sonata by Pierre Kunc, one of these neutral chamber music works that seem just to grow, being spawned, as it were, out of the seed-germs of a century of European chamber music works, I fled." The author of this site agrees in sentiment, but notes that by leaving, the reviewer missed the excellent York Bowen viola sonata with the composer on piano.
One of the earliest works — possibly the earliest — written for Hermann Ritter and his viola alta. After hearing Ritter and being very pleased with the viola alta, Liszt was sent by a publisher a copy of one of his minor early works, a piano piece based on an even earlier song, hoping to publish it. Instead, Liszt used fragments of both works with a new prelude and coda to create a dreamy patchwork, seemingly of half-forgotten themes. He titled it Romance Oubliée, and dedicated it to Ritter. It has entered and retained a place in the broader viola repertoire.
The composer says this about Old Souls, written for viola alta and piano:
When writing Old Souls, I thought deeply about the people keeping classic forms of art alive today. I adore old films, old cars, old music, old houses, etc. While I am only 27, I feel a deep connection to the traditions of the past — they speak to me, they make sense to me. In the same way, those who also feel this kinship to the past are like kindred spirits. I feel an immediate bond and sense of understanding, likely because they too are old souls.
This work was commissioned by Jason Fruit.
These sixteen etudes bear a Foreword from Hermann Ritter, hailing Meyer as one of his best students and describing the etudes as suited to carry the student to a high level of technical ability. There are exercises focusing on half position and second position, various bowings, short fast trills, multiple-stops, and other techniques throughout the instrument's range. The final etude is a Fantasie of considerable length, difficulty, and musical interest.
A fine work in three movements, written for Hermann Ritter shortly after he began teaching at the Königliche Musikschule in Würzburg. The first movement has a bounding, impetuous first theme contrasted with dreamy, singing material; the second is a simply songful slow movement; the finale is a rondo contrasting its main material, built from a boisterous explosion of chords in both instruments, with moodier sustained themes.
A somber, moody work of great beauty in which the viola alta and cello are contrasted as a unit with the piano. It is in three sections, Vergänglichkeit (Transience), Ergebung (Resignation), and Hoffnung (Hope). Dedicated to Paul-Louis Neuberth, the French champion of the viola alta.
Ris was a viola alta student of Hermann Ritter. These six little pieces are written for a beginner on either violin or viola alta, accompanied by piano. They are competently written, tuneful, easy to play, and well suited for first recital pieces for young students.
Alexander Ritter, who also lived in Würzburg, was frequently confused for Hermann Ritter, or supposed to be his brother, which he was not. He was, however, a powerful radicalizing influence on Richard Strauss, of whom he was a close associate. This work by Alexander Ritter was not published during his lifetime, and though it bears similarities to one of his songs, it is its own work, and very much idiomatic for the viola alta. It opens with a melancholic, meandering theme, and moves to a section dominated by an obsessive, rocking sixteenth-note half-step alternation which persists for most of the rest of the work.
In three movements for viola alta and orchestrs, in C major. Also variously titled as Concert, Phantasie, or Konzertstück. Frequently included in Ritter's performances, especially the slow movement, which features viola alta and harp. Longer than its material justifies, it was recently recorded by Daniel Orson in a truncated version of his own.
For viola alta and orchestrs, in D major. Less often performed by Ritter and others than the first Concert-Phantasie, this work seems to have been a favorite of his student Michael Balling.
This work, in G major, was written for the five-string viola alta and piano, and relies on its abilities. It barely uses the C string at all.
A set of twenty-four works, mostly arrangements, for viola alta and piano. It contains:
It also includes an annex of several trios for violin, viola alta, and piano, some allowing alternate instrumentation.
In three movements, each representing a different Italian city: Barcarole (Venezia), Elegie (Roma), and Tarantella (Napoli). For viola alta and piano, it was orchestrated by Ritter and his students.
In two sections, an Elegie followed by an Introduction and Mazurka.
For viola alta and piano in two sections, a Gavotte and a Pastorale and Menuett. Not to be confused with the Pastorale and Gavotte, Op. 32 #1, which was sometimes also called "Rokoko".
For viola alta and piano. Crafted to maximize the effect of the five-string viola alta, it serves little other musical purpose.
Ritter also wrote for the viola alta two pedagogical works: Elementartechnik der Viola alta, and the two volumes of Das Studium der Viola alta oder Altgeige. The first of these explains the basics of musical notation, correct posture for holding the viola alta, and some exercises in the basic action of the fingers, scales in all keys (one or two octaves, limited to the first position), half-position, and a brief introduction to the first through seventh positions.
The Studium is more advanced; the first volume presents in accelerated form the material covered in the Elementartechnik, followed by a few more involved pieces of music: a challenging exercise in shifting, the Prelude from the C-major Bach Cello Suite, and a transcription of the Paganini Moto Perpetuo. The second volume covers various bowings, tone production, dexterity exercises in single notes, thirds, and octaves, scales and arpeggios (using a range to e'''), including thirds, sixths, and octaves (not fingered), and finally an appendix on natural and artificial harmonics.
Neither of these works is practical for modern-day instruction, but they are a fascinating window through which we can peek into a teaching studio of the late nineteenth century, displaying the priorities of the time.
A piano trio with violin, viola alta, and piano, a combination that appealed to many composers at the end of the nineteenth century, Reger, Scharwenka, and Robert Fuchs, the Sandberger trio is a musically satisfying work of intermediate difficulty. Sandberger was exposed to the viola alta as a student at Würzburg, and the work is dedicated to the well-known conductor Felix Weingartner, an associate of Ritter. The publisher adds a note:
The composer intends the viola part of this work to be played on a Hermann Ritter viola alta. Given the unfortunately still limited availability of this magnificent instrument, he asks that the player of the viola part give especial attention to producing the freest, most expansive tone possible.
For viola alta (or violin or cello) and piano. An attractive study in singing melody by a good friend of Hermann Ritter who knew the viola alta well.
For violin, viola alta, and piano, and dedicated to Hermann Ritter. It is in two sections, a slow introduction in A minor, and lively movement in A major. The violin and viola alta predominate throughout, and the viola alta is required to be a very active and tonally equal participant.
It is impossible to be certain that this work was written with the viola alta in mind, but several factors suggest so: it was written at the same time as the Duo, above; Ritter both premiered and taught it on the viola alta before it was published; the Scharwenka brothers were Ritter's close friends and performing colleagues, familiar with the virtues of his instrument; and in his Allgemeine illustrierte Encyklopädie der Musikgeschichte, in which hs is careful to distinguish between works for the viola alta and for the regular viola, he refers to it as a sonata for the viola alta. The work also requires a powerful violist, viola, or both. In keeping with its title, its three movements are very free in form, connected by improvisatory flourished by the viola alta; it manages to combine vigor with the melancholic tone common in Philipp Scharwenka's works.
Dedicated to Hermann Ritter and presumably intended for the instrument he played and taught, these three works are typical of Hans Sitt's viola compositions. They are intermediate Romantic character pieces, without descriptive titles, no more or less suited to the viola alta than they are to a regular viola.
Dedicated to "The Viola Alta of Paul-Louis Neuberth" — not to the man himself, this work is in four movements, ending with a fugue with a mostly single-line texture. Drawing inspiration from the unaccompanied violin works of Bach and couched in musical language rooted in the practice of Faure and d'Indy, it is difficult but idiomatically written for the viola alta.
