Noemi Savková
This text was written at the Faculty of Music of the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Brno as part of the project Exploring the Possibilities of the Viola d’Amore through the Creation of a New Composition, supported by funds for specific university research provided by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports for the year 2025.
Introduction
The viola d’amore is classified as a historical instrument, yet (surprisingly) there is a whole range of contemporary compositions written for it. Thanks to its construction and the historical tradition of flexibility in string tuning, the instrument offers composers several possibilities. This text asks how contemporary composers approach the possibilities of the viola d’amore. The use of the viola d’amore in contemporary music after 1970 is explored through analytical studies of four compositions. These compositions were selected from many available compositions to represent a wide range of uses of the various possibilities of this historical instrument.
The use of early instruments in contemporary music is generally an area that has been little researched. In Czech scholarly literature, the viola d’amore is the subject of David Šlechta’s dissertation, Zapomenutý svět violy d’amore (The Forgotten World of the Viola d’amore). The author focusses primarily on the use of the viola d’amore in the works of Leoš Janáček and Paul Hindemith. 1 The following publications are important for understanding the instrument, its possibilities, and historical context. The Viola d’amore, Its History and Development by Rachael Durkin, 2 dissertation Playing with resonance by Daniela Braun, 3 two contributions from the conference Colloque sur les instruments à cordes sympathiques, which were published in the book Amour et sympathie, 4 and Viola d‚amore Bibliographie by Michael and Dorothea Jappe. 5
