4. So how much music is there for a viola quartet?

PREPARE TO BE AMAZED!

Originals v. Arrangements v. Transcriptions

You may be forgiven for thinking there’s not a lot of repertoire for a viola quartet (you’d be wrong of course, but in the absence of evidence to the contrary you might think it), and you may also think such repertoire that does exist is confined to the odd piece by lesser known mid-twentieth century composers. Wrong again. So where does our lengthy repertoire list come from? Are they all arrangements or transcriptions? Certainly not. Read on…

…We are very choosy about what pieces to include in our repertoire, and they come from many sources…

Original viola quartet, Piano, Orchestral, Consort, Musical, Keyboard, Concerto, Traditional, Quartet, Folk, Vocal, Sonata, Piano trio, Gamba, Brass, and more.

Over the years we seem to have attracted the attention of a number of composers, who have written music for us, which is highly flattering. And we have our very own resident composer, Sancho Engaño.

Regarding arrangements:

“For an arrangement to succeed, it mustn’t sound like an arrangement. No, indeed! It is vital that it sounds, plays, and feels as if the composer had set out from the start to create, say, a viola quartet. With each new arrangement you have to study their style of writing, their idiosyncrasies and nuance, get right into their mind and be that composer. Nothing less will do.” (Sancho Engaño)

There is no greater reward for any composer than to have their music published and played. Sadly, even for many of the greats, the only way they ever got to hear their music was to play it themselves at home on the piano. Hence there is a lot of keyboard music that at its heart would like to be something that involves a proper ensemble.

“When an ensemble works well you experience something that is much greater than the sum of its parts. It’s utterly wonderful.” (Sancho Engaño)

There’s no better example than Mussorgsky’s “Pictures at an exhibition”. It is a superb piano work but it took the vision, the imagination, and consummate skill of Ravel to transform it into the symphonic masterpiece that we all know. Conclusion: The original is great, but also so is the arrangement. I rest my case. Oh, and you can see our own version, created by Engaño, right here in the music shop. Ta da!

The viola may not have the range of, for example, the piano (very few instruments do), but it can do a lot of things that a piano cannot: sustain, crescendo, vibrato, glissando, quarter tones, a wide range of attack and timbre, pizzicato, ponticello, and more. A skilful arrangement can unveil aspects of a piano piece that give it a totally new dimension.

Much of the repertoire listed below is available to purchase from Our Sheet Music Shop and is marked with *

Zequinha Abreu	Tico-tico no fubá*
Tomaso Albinoni	Sinfonia in D (3 movements)* Viola Quartet in C Major (3 movements)*
Emanuel Adriaenssen	Almande for viola ensemble
Constanzo Antegnati	La Battera
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach	Quartet in A minor*
Johann Sebastian Bach	Alla Duodecima, Andante, Contrapunctus, Cum Sancto Spiritu, Minuet and Badinerie, Prelude Adagio, Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Quartet Sonata, Three Fantasias for viola quartet, Toccata and Fugue in D Minor*
Bálint Bakfark	Two Fantasies for viola quartet
Simon Bainbridge	Birthday Fragment
Adriano Banchieri	La Feliciana
Béla Bartók	Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs, The Village Dance
Arnold Bax	Country Tune*
Ludwig van Beethoven	Allegretto from 7th Symphony, Andante Cantabile, Arietta Variations, Boogie, Coriolan Overture, Finale from 7th Symphony, Finale from 9th Symphony, Für Elise for viola quartet, Für Elise (plus) for viola quartet, Irish Album (10 songs), Prometheus Overture, Quartet Op. 111, Romance in F Major, Rondo, Rondo a Capriccio Op.129 (movie clip), Satz für Bratschenquartett, Scottish Album (10 songs), Serenade (7 movements), Symphony No. 5, Viola Quartet Op54 (2 movements), Viola Quartet in F Major, Op.17 (3 movements), Welsh Album*
John Bennet	Madrigal
Alban Berg	Vier Stucke für Bratschenquartett*
Irving Berlin	Three Songs for Viola Quartet*
Hector Berlioz	Canon libre à la quinte, Fugue à trois sujets, Hungarian March, Hymn pour lévévation, Les Nuits D’eté (6 movements), Reverie et Caprice, Un Bal
Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber	Harmonia Artificiosa – Ariosa
Georges Bizet	Cavatina for viola quartet, L’Arlésienne Suite No1, La Fleur que tu m’avais jetée, Menuetto*
Luigi Boccherini	Sonatina (3 movements), Viola Quartet in D Major
Mélanie Hélène Bonis	Pensées d’Automne*
Lili Boulanger	Deux Morceaux pour quatuor d’altos*
Edwin York Bowen	Fantasie for Four Violas
Alexander Borodin	Nocturne Polka for viola quartet*
William Boyce	Introduction and Allegro
Johannes Brahms	Adagio from 2nd Symphony, Appassionata Op. 120, Finale from the First symphony, Four Hungarian Dances, Poco Allegretto (from 3rd Symphony), Variations on a theme by Haydn, Viola Quartet in A Minor (4 movements), Viola Quartet in E Minor (3 movements)
Thomas Brewer	Pavin for four violas
Frank Bridge	An Irish Melody, Cradle Song, Moto Perpetuo, Suite for Viola Quartet, Three Miniatures
Max Bruch	Adagio on a Celtic Melody, Kol Nidrei, Romanze for viola quartet, Quartet Concerto (3 movements)
Anton Bruckner	Fantasie for viola quartet, March (from 4th Symphony), Prelude in D minor
Benedikt Brydern	Pedestrian Crossing
David Burndrett	Tasty Tango for Viola Quartet
George Butterworth	The Banks of Green Willow*
Dietrich Buxtehude	Passacaglia for four violas
William Byrd	Galliard, Misis Marye Brownlo, Pavans and Galliards, Suite for viola quartet (5 movements)*
Emmanuel Chabrier	Boureé Fantasque* Danse Villageoise, Larghetto*
Marc-Antoine Charpentier	Concert pour quatre parties de violes
Amédée-Ernest Chausson	Quelques Danses*
Luigi Cherubini	Ave Maria for Viola Quartet, Sonatina for viola quartet
Fryderyk Chopin	Fantasy for viola quartet* Polska*
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor	Eight Negro Melodies*
Arcangelo Corelli	Christmas Concerto, Concerti 1 and 2 for Viola Quartet, Four Concerti for Viola Quartet, La Follia
François Couperin	La Sultane*, Les Baricades Mystérieuses
Claude-Achille Debussy	Clair de Lune, Fugue à 4 voix sur un sujet, Petite Pièce, Petite Suite (4 movements), Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune, Rapsodie, Three Pieces for Viola Quartet
Léo Delibes	Pizzicati for viola quartet*
Frederick Delius	Sonatina
August Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf	Notturno (3 movements)*
John Dowland	In darkness let me dwell*
Guillaume Dufay	L’homme armé
Paul Dukas	The Sorcerer’s Apprentice*
Antonín Dvorák	Capriccio, Dumka, Elegie, Largo from the New World, Scherzo from the New World, Scottish Dances, Slavonic Dances Op.46 Nos.1-4, Song to the Moon
Edward Elgar	Five Pieces for viola quartet, “Nimrod” for viola quartet, Romance in E Minor, The Dream of Gerontius Prelude, Three Charming Viola Quartets, Viola Quartet Concerto (4 Movements)
Sancho Engaño (our associate composer)	Bach for Oscar, Bach in the Dark, Bacchanale, Beads for voice and viola quartet, Blues Suite (4 movements), Blue Syncopation, The Board Meeting, Dance Suite (5 movements), El Fantasma Danzante, El Rezo del Soldado, Fanfarria, For Four, Fugal Schmugal, Happy Classical Birthday, Heading for Home, Hello Sailor, Hurdy-Gurdy, Insomnio, My Baby Sleeps, Noche de Música, Pizzipeezy, Polkadotty, Spanish Quartet, Staccato Fugato, Story of Two Minstrels, Tango Bach, Tap Dance, The Board Meeting, Tricksy Pizzi, The Gypsy Viola*, Two Canons, Ukulele
Manuel de Falla	Pièces Espagnoles (4 mvts)*
Giles Farnaby	Four Pieces for viola quartet*
Johann Freidrich Fasch	Sonatina for viola quartet (4 mvts.)*
Gabriel Fauré	Deux Petites Mélodies, Fantasie Op.79, Four Pieces for Viola Quartet, Madrigal, Papillon*, Panvane
Folk	Folk Music Album (6 movements)*
César Franck	Humoresque* Two Melodies for viola quartet
Giovanni Gabrieli	Sonata XXI In Ecclesiis Quattro Canzoni*
Carlos Gardel	Por Una Cabeza*
George Gershwin	Promenade, Walking the Dog*
Claude Gervaise	Pavane – La Venissiene
George N. Gianopoulos	Hatzlacha Rabbah for viola quartet
Alaxander Glazanov	Theme and Variations*
Mikhail Glinka	Rondino Brillante, Ruslan and Ludmila Overture
Christoph Willibald Gluck	Pizzicato*
Louis Moreau Gottschalk	Le Bananier
Charles Gounod	Marche Pontificale
Enrique Granados	Three Spanish Dances*
Edvard Grieg	Four poetic tone pictures, Two Nordic Melodies
Giovanni Battista Grillo	Three Canzoni for viola ensemble*
George Frideric Handel	Larghetto in F Major, Overture from Alexander’s Feast, Hallelujah for Strings, Messiah Concerto, Music for the Royal Fireworks, Saraband, Sinfonia*
Franz Joseph Haydn	The Joke, Largo, The London Quartet 104 (4 movements), Romance, Serenade, Viola Quartet in D major (3 movements), The Surprise Quartet (4 movements)*
Gustav Holst	A Fugal Quartet (3 movements), Brook Green Suite (3 movements), Jupiter, St. Paul’s Suite (4 movements), Suite for viola quartet (3 movements)*
Johann Nepomuk Hummel	Potpourri for Viola Quartet*
Engelbert Humperdinck	Nocturn, Wiegenlied
Vincent d’Indy	Lied*
Irish Traditional	The Drunken Sailor, The Green Groves of Erin, A Hard Road to Travel, Rolling on the Ryegrass, Sheahan’s Reel
Leos Janácek	Suite (6 movements)*, Zdenka Variations
Scott Joplin	Album for Viola Quartet (12 titles)*, Ragtime Dance, Weeping Willow
Friedrich Kalkbrenner	Rondo for Viola Quartet
Jerome David Kern	Selection for Viola Quartet (8 songs)*
Rodolphe Kreutzer	“Number Two” for viola quartet*
Edouard Lalo	Guitare, Two Folk Melodies for viola quartet*
Orlando di Lassus	Matona mia cara, Pensieri di pace*
Jean Marie Leclair	Saraband et Tambourin*, Tambourin for viola quartet
Franz Lehár	Hungarian Fantasy, Vilja
Franz Liszt	Csárdás Macabre, Two Little Folk Melodies*
Pietro Locatelli	Sinfonia Funebre for viola quartet (5 movements)
Patrick Loiseleur	Râga nº1 bis for viola quartet
Matthew Locke	Suite in B Minor*
Hamish MacCunn	Hornpipe for viola quartet, Land of the Mountain and the Flood
Gustav Mahler	Kindertotenlieder, Ländler (from First Symphony), Trauermarsch
Alessandro Marcello	Viola Quartet in C Minor (3 movements)*
Marin Marais	Suite for viola quartet (5 movements)*
Florentio Maschera	Canzona
Jules Massenet	Élégie for viola quartet, Meditation, Suite for viola quartet (4 movements)
Emilie Mayer	Tonweller*
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy	Allegro, Chorale, and Fugue in D Minor, Fingal’s Cave, March for Viola Quartet, Perpetuum Mobile, Rondo, Saltarello, Scherzo, Sinfonia in B flat major (3 movements), Sinfonia in D major (3 movements), Symphony No. 4 (4 movements), Viola Quartet in C minor (3 mvts)*
Thomas Morley	Canzonetta
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart	Adagio in F Minor, Allegro Spiritoso, Divertimento in C Major, Fugue K.173, Overture to Don Giovanni, Romance K. 466, Rondo alla Turca, The Magic Flute Fantasy, Symphony number 40 (complete), The Jupiter Finale*, Viola Quartet in C Major, Viola Quartet in C Minor
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky	Meditation, Pictures at an Exhibition*, Souvenir d’Enfance, Three pieces for viola quartet
Ulrich Nehls	Slicky Slide Swing
Carl Nielsen	Romance, Six Miniatures for viola quartet* Suite for viola quartet (3 movements), Three Melodies
Ottokar Novácek	Eight Bulgarian Dances for viola quartet*
Johann Pachelbel	Fantasia in C Minor, Fugue in D Minor, Gigue for four violas
Niccolò Paganini	La Campanella, Moto Perpetuo, Rondo
Charles Hastings Hubert Parry	Lady Radnor’s Suite*
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi	Larghetto for viola quartet*
Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina	Four pieces for viola ensemble*
Michael Praetorius	Bransle de Villages, Fantasia for four violas, The Terpsichore Dances*
Serge Prokofiev	Toccata*, Visions Fugitives (4 movements)
Giacomo Puccini	Due Canzoni Lente (Crisantemi & Pregheira), Pucciniana
Henry Purcell	Dido and Aeneas Fantasy, Fantazia, Pavane and Chaconne, Three Fantasias for viola quartet*
Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff	Canon for Viola Quartet, Polka for Viola Quartet, Vocalise for Viola Quartet
Jean-Philippe Rameau	Les Indes Galantes (8 movements)*
Maurice Ravel	Suite pour Quatre Altos (5 movements), Valses Nobles et Sentimentales*
Max Reger	Prelude and Fugue*
Renaissance Album	(12 pieces)*
Ottorino Respeghi	Antiche Danze ed Arie (4 movements), Rhapsody
Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov	Flight of the Bumble-bee, In the Monastery, Serenade, Variations and Fugue*
Salomone Rossi	Canzon
Gioachino Antonio Rossini	Andante and Variations, The Barber of Seville Overture, Semiramide Overture, William Tell Overture*
Albert Roussel	Prelude and Fugue*
Camille Saint-Saëns	Danse Macabre, Two Fugues for viola quartet
Pablo de Sarasate	Zapateado
Erik Satie	3 Gymnopédies, Jack in the box (3 movements), Quatre Morceaux Lent
Domenico Scarlatti	Sonata in F, Suite for viola quartet (4 movements)*
Arnold Schoenburg	Chromatische Pfade
Franz Schubert	‘Arpeggione’ Quartet (3 movements), Moments Musicaux, Overture in the Italian Style, Symphony No. 5 (4 movements), Symphony No.8 (2 movements), Tarentelle, Viola Quartet in A Major (4 movements)*
Clara Schumann	Viola Quartet in three movements*
Robert Schumann	Five Folk Tunes for viola quartet, Märchenbilder for viola quartet, Suite for four violas (5 movements), Symphony No.3 (5 movements), Viola Quartet Concerto in A Minor (3 movements)
Alexander Scriabin	Two Mazurkas for viola quartet*
Bedrich Smetana	Dance of the Comedians, Five waltzes for viola quartet, Fugue for viola quartet*
Alice Mary Smith	Andante for Viola Quartet*
John Philip Sousa	The Liberty Bell March, Two Melodies*
Louis Spohr	Fantasie for viola quartet*
Johann Strauss I	Lorelei Rheinklänge, Radetzky March
Johann Strauss II	Violetta, Die Fledermaus Overture, Perpetuum Mobile, The Gypsy Baron Overture, The Blue Danube Waltz*
Richard Giorg Strauss	Bratschenquartett, Viola Quartet in F Major
Arthur Sullivan	Overture, H.M.S. Pinafore, The Gilbert and Sullivan Album for viola quartet
Suo Gân	Welsh folk song*
Franz von Suppé	Pique Dame*
Tielman Susato	Il etail une fillett, Six Dances for viola ensemble*
Thomas Tallis	Album for String Ensemble*, Three Sacred Melodies
Giuseppe Tartini	Adagio Cantabile, Viola Quartet in C minor (3 movements)*
Peter Taylor	Prelude Calypso
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky	1812 Overture, Andante Cantabile, Andante Semplice, Aveu Passionné, Canzona from 4th Symphony, Capriccio Italien, Czardas from Swan Lake, March from 6th Symphony, Quartet Concerto, Sérénade Mélancolique, Serenata Opus 44, Suite for viola quartet (4 movements), Valse Sentimentale, Waltz from Swan Lake Winter Daydreams*
Georg Philipp Telemann	4 Concerti à 4 viole, La Bouffonne Suite (8 movements), Viola quartet in G major, Don Quixote Suite (8 movements)*
Various Composers	Christmas Album for Strings, Two Early Viola Quartets, Three Seventeenth Century English Aires*
Guiseppe Verdi	Ave Maria, Nocturne, Requiem Fantasy*
Ángel Villoldo	Four Tangos for viola quartet*
Antonio Vivaldi	Autumn (3 movements), Et Misericordia, Concertino for Viola Quartet (3 movements), Largo from ‘Winter’, Sinfonia per quattro viole (3 movements), Spring (3 movements), Suite in D (4 movements), Summer (3 movements), The Four Seasons Complete (12 movements), Viola Concertante in A Minor, Viola Quartet in C Minor, Viola Quartet in G Major, Winter (3 movements)
Richard Wagner	Prelude, Romanze, Viola Quartet in C Major*
Émile Waldteufel	The Skater’s Waltz*
Geoffrey Walker	Absolute Zero Rag, Loco Motif, Paganini Fireworks*
Thomas “Fats” Waller	Effervescent for viola quartet
Peter Warlock	Capriol Suite (6 movements)*
Carl Maria von Weber	Andante & Hungarian Rondo, Concertino for viola quartet, Romance
Anton Webern	Controverse
Thomas Weelkes	Pavan for four violas
Kurt Weill	The Beggar’s Opera Selection*
Welsh Traditional	Suo Gân*
Henryk Wieniawski	Reverie, Two Melodies
Max von Weinzierl	Nachtstück für 4 violen, Op.34
John Wilbye	Six Madrigals for Viola Quartet*
Hugo Wolf	Scherzo for viola quartet*

Here is a more detailed catalogue of our ensemble library.

Got any questions about viola repertoire? Get in touch: abzeroviolaquartet@gmail.com