It’s late autumn — viola time. The viola should perhaps be the instrument of summer. Its tone suggests sumptuous ripeness from the top of its range to bottom. But falling between the violin’s soaring ...

In 1919, Rebecca Clarke’s Viola Sonata tied for first place in a major competition—but when the judges saw her name, they couldn’t believe a woman had written something so bold and powerful. Some even ...

The viola is in nature an undersized pansy. In art it is an oversized violin with a tubby, whiskey-contralto voice. Except for low-moaning the inner voices of symphonies and string quartets, it is not ...