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February 18th, 2014 by Adam Paul Cordle

JS Bachs Influence on the Viola throughout the Baroque Era

Musicology, Tuesday Comments Off

by Meredith Kufchak

During the Baroque Period, the viola da braccio rose in popularity and began to blossom into the versatile instrument that
it is today. Although the viola had existed since the 16th century, it was mainly used as a supporting instrument to
accompany vocalists or other instruments. Johann Sebastian Bach was one of the first composers to write a significant
composition featuring the viola. J. S. Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 transformed the role of the viola in Baroque
music from a background harmony instrument into one that was capable of virtuosity by disregarding and inverting the
prevalent instrumental hierarchy.

The majority of early viola parts were written for tenor violas, which were larger than a modern viola but still played on
the shoulder, making them incredibly awkward and uncomfortable to play. Because of this, the popularity of tenor violas
decreased and, although the large violas were produced throughout the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, they
eventually fell out of favor.1 The violas large, awkward size made it difficult to play, so composers were not inclined to
write difficult parts for the viola. For these reasons, the violas role in music was either to play the harmony or to double
the continuo.

The event that most constricted the growth of the viola as a solo instrument was the creation of the trio sonata, which was
standardized by Corelli. Trio sonatas were most often composed for two violins with continuo, or two oboes, flutes, or
cornets. This meant that the most popular form of chamber music in the Baroque period excluded the viola and also that
composers failed to see the viola as a solo instrument. Another popular genre of music in early eighteenth-century Italy
was the concerto grosso, which was standardized by Corelli and Vivaldi. The concerto grosso is scored for two groups of
instruments, the concertino and the ripieno. The concertino was the small group of soloists, and the ripieno was the
orchestral group that supported the soloists and sometimes doubled their parts to play as a full orchestral group. The
instrumentation of Corellis concerti grossi was most often two violins, cello, and keyboard for the concertino, and two
violins, viola, cello, and continuo for the ripieno. Before Corelli, it was typical to have two viola parts in the ripieno.
However, the transition from five-part harmony to four-part harmony again diminished the demand for violists.

There are very few examples of solo works for the viola because they were not in high demand, but there are a few
examples from the middle of the seventeenth century. The Florentine organist Nicholaus Kempis published a Sonata for
Violin and Viola in 1644. The Venetian organist Massimiliano Neri published a Viola Sonata in 1651. Another Sonata for
Viola by Carlo Antonio Marino appeared late in the seventeenth century. In the second half of the century, there is
evidence that some German trio sonatas did include a part for the viola and even that in the traditional trio sonata for two
violins, it was preferred if the second violin part was instead played by a viola.2 In addition, Daniel Speer composed two
trio sonatas for two violas and continuo in 1697 that he intended to be played by amateur violists. Opera arias were
occasionally accompanied by a solo viola in late seventeenth-century Venice and early eighteenth-century Hamburg.3
Handel did this in his opera Almira, composed in 1705. The first ensemble piece with viola as part of the concertino was
Locatellis concerto grosso in 1721.

J. S. Bach was among the first composers to realize the full potential of the viola.4 As an accomplished musician, Bach
played the violin, viola, and most famously the organ. He was employed as a professional violinist and violist by the Duke
of Weimar but left the position within a year to become a composer and organist for the church in Arnstadt. As a
proficient violist, he understood the full technical capabilities of the viola and could see that it had potential beyond that
of a harmony instrument. In addition, the viola was Bachs favorite instrument to play in chamber music, because he
enjoyed playing in the center of the harmony.

Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 (BWV 1051) was written around the year 1718 and is thought to be the earliest of the
Brandenburg Concertos.5 The instrumentation of the piece is two violas da braccio, two violas da gamba, violoncello, and
violone e cembalo for the continuo. This instrumentation was unique for the time period, because in this Brandenburg
concerto, the two violas have the melodic and most challenging parts. Although Bach does not designate a concertino or
ripieno, the way the parts function is that the two violas da braccio and the violoncello have the important melodic and
thematic material.6 However, Bach most likely did not intend for the work to be played like Vivaldis ripieno concertos
were sometimes performed, with a small group of soloists alternating playing with the full orchestra. He more likely
intended for it to be performed in a chamber-music style with one player to a part.7 It is also important to recognize that
this is not a concerto for two violas. Rather, Bach titles the work Concerto 6to due Viole da Braccio, due Viole da Gamba,
Violoncello, Violone Cembalo.8

The question remains then: Why did Bach choose the instrumentation that he did, with the violas da gamba in a more
subordinate role to the violas da braccio? Up to this point in the history of music, the viola was a harmony instrument,
while the gambas were more respected, playing a broad range from continuo to solo pieces, including playing in the
concertino of concertos.9 Gamba players were often very skilled technically, so they played difficult parts. Bach himself
wrote a viola da gamba sonata. The violoncello had also acquired more status as a solo instrument by the end of the
seventeenth century and had been included in the concertino of concertos. The violin was immensely popular at the time,
so it seems odd that out of all the instruments that are included in his Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, Bach gives the most
important parts to the two violas da braccio and does not include any violins at all. He also gives the violas da gamba and
violoncello a supporting role to the violas da braccio. This was an unusual voicing, because it flipped the instrumental
hierarchy upside down and took out violins completely. He gave the instruments known for their solo capabilities and
virtuosity an accompaniment role, and gave the violas da braccio, the least respected of all the instruments, the important
solo roles.

The most likely explanation for why Bach chose the specific instrumentation is that he was simply writing for the
musicians that were available.10 The Brandenburg Concertos were performed at the court of Prince Leopold of Kthen,
who was Bachs employer at the time. The prince preferred to play the viola da gamba, so when he played he would take
the first seat and the court viola da gamba player, Christian Ferdinand Abel, would move to the second seat. Bach would
have played the viola part as his preferred instrument, and the principal violinist, Joseph Spie, would have played the
second viola part because it is unlikely that the court violists were capable of playing the difficult part. The cellist
Christian Bernhard Linigke was also a very capable musician. This reasoning provides an explanation for the unique
instrumentation and the roles that each instrument takes. Bach and the best violinist would play the virtuosic parts, as
well as the cellist; the same cellist for whom Bach wrote the famous six cello suites. Prince Leopold was not as skilled a
musician, so Bach wrote a less demanding part for the gambas. This idea that Bach wrote for the instrumentation that was
available to him at a specific time is also consistent with the remaining five Brandenburg Concertos.11

Bach may have been after convenience when he chose the instrumentation of his Brandenburg Concerto No. 6, but the
untraditional swap of roles between solo instruments and accompaniment instruments still had significant implications.
It is not simply that Bach wrote virtuosic viola parts, or that he wrote simple accompanimental viola da gamba parts,
because this had been done before, both by Bach and other composers. Rather, the significance is that he uses these two
techniques simultaneously, upsetting the conventional roles of the gambas being superior to the violas da braccio.12 It
was common for both the gambas and the violas da braccio to play ripieno roles, or for the gambas to play in the
concertino while the violas played the ripieno, but it was very uncommon for the violas to play the concertino while the
gambas played simple ripieno parts. He placed the violas da braccio above the violas da gamba in terms of importance
and difficulty of parts.

Bach was not the only Baroque composer who wrote virtuosic music for the viola; although it could be argued that his
Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 is the greatest masterpiece of the music written for violas in the Baroque period. Telemann
was another prolific composer during the Baroque era who took a special interest in the viola. He wrote several trio
sonatas for violin, viola, and continuo; a viola concerto; a concerto for two violas; and works for viola and keyboard.
Vivaldi composed six viola damore concertos during his life. The next great composer for viola was Karl Stamitz, who
wrote several viola concertos, the most famous of which is his Concerto in D Major for Viola and Orchestra, published in
1774, which brings us into the Classical era.13

J. S. Bachs Brandenburg Concerto No. 6 greatly influenced the role of the viola in the Baroque era by creating virtuosic
melody parts that allowed violists and composers to realize the full potential of the instrument. He put the violas in a solo
role above the violas da gamba and the violoncello, both of which were more traditionally solo instruments while the
viola was seen as solely an accompaniment and harmony instrument. Bachs concerto was a step toward the viola
becoming a solo instrument, and although the viola was not instantly a successful solo instrument, more and more
composers began to write virtuosic viola parts and solo pieces. Today the viola is no longer seen as simply a harmony
instrument, but an instrument capable of great virtuosity.

Notes

1. Robin Stowell, The Early Violin and Viola: A Practical Guide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 34.

2. Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola (Ann Arbor: Braun-Brumfield, 1980), 105.

3. Wolfgang Hirschmann, preface to Telemann Concerto in G Major for Viola, Strings, and Basso continuo (Basel:
Brenreiter Kassel, 2002), 7.

4. Riley, The History of the Viola, 111.

5. Michael Thomas Roeder, A History of the Concerto (Portland: Amadeus Press, 1994), 95.

6. Norman Carrell, Bachs Brandenburg Concertos (London: Scholarly Press, Inc., 1978), 110.

7. Arthur Hutchings, The Baroque Concerto (New York: Charles Scribners Sons, 1978), 234.

8. Malcolm Boyd, Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 91.

9. Michael Marissen, The Social and Religious Designs of J. S. Bachs Brandenburg Concertos (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University press, 1995), 56.

10. Boyd, Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos, 35.

11. Friedrich Smend, Bach in Kthen, trans. John Page (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1985), 40.

12. Marissen, Social and Religious Designs, 57.

13. Riley, The History of the Viola, 120.

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