Saturday Morning Car Tunes: The Viola

Voilà! The viola isn’t playing second fiddle to anyone (despite a long history of being the butt of jokes). With its dark, rich, and mellow timbre, it’s attracted musicians like Mozart, Beethoven, and The Velvet Underground. But violas haven’t always been the rockstar. The viola is slightly bigger than the violin, and it often plays a supporting role in the orchestra, but rarely gets to play a leading part. To fix that, some frustrated musicians have transposed or transcribed other music. Luckily, composers today are writing really cool viola music to make up for centuries of neglect. The viola deserves all the love it never got.

Tune in Saturday at 8:15 or 3:15 to hear the feature on the radio – and you can come back here to listen again!

Listen to the feature!