Danza per Viola da Braccio

The designation "Viola da Braccio" is a historic one, which distinguishes the now-standard viola from the Viola da Gamba. The German term for viola, Bratsche, as used by Johannes Brahms, is derived from the Italian term "braccio", meaning "arm". The work is centered in the key of C (minor and major), and includes a few bars in which the tonal center shifts upwards by intervals of a minor third, progressively through E flat minor, F sharp, A, and back to C. The piece showcases the viola, via use of the rich, dark-sounding C string (the lowest string of the instrument), harmonically full chords across all 4 strings, and pizzicato on open strings (playable with the left hand). A chord of C major across all 4 strings ends the work.

The music is characterized by use of the interval of the augmented fourth (e.g., C and F sharp) and minor/major key alternations. These aspects, together with the dark sound of the instrument, rhythmic irregularities and hard-hitting ends of phrases, impart an earthy, pungent, Eastern European flavor to the piece.

The first performance of this piece was a private one by Mrs. Pamela Fay, violist in the Philadelphia-based Wister Quartet, in 2017. Starting in the spring of 2020, the work has been performed publicly several times by Nancy Bean, Artistic Director of 1807 & Friends, a professional chamber music group based in Philadelphia. The instrument used in Nancy Bean's performances of the piece is a Pellegrina Viola, one of a number of such ergonomically friendly instruments (alternatives to a traditional viola), constructed by David Ravinus. This modified viola imposes less physical strain on the performer than the traditional viola, by limiting the degree of finger-stretching of the left hand while playing it. The autograph manuscript of this work was donated to the Cambridge University Library in England, in 2016.