c. 1880–1910
Late-Romantic viola excerpts
This late-romantic viola selection contains 3 excerpts. Begin with Strauss: Don Juan, opening: The standard opening request at viola auditions. Fast, high, and written in a register where the viola has to project without turning thin. The period label groups these works for discovery; it does not prescribe one tempo, articulation or sound for every composer.
Practise this selection
For viola, read the actual clef and register before reusing a familiar violin finger pattern. Listen to the inner part in context: a line that feels secondary alone can provide the rhythm or harmony that makes the orchestral texture clear.
The recorded technique tags in this selection include tone-poem, audition, fast, bravura, solo. Choose one relevant passage, read its specific practice notes below, and set one listening target before a complete run. Tags describe the library entries, not a required exam syllabus.
Late-romantic scores push the section higher, louder, and further into divisi. Excerpts from this period are the backbone of professional audition lists precisely because they test range, sustained intensity, and tenor and treble clef reading all at once.
The excerpts
Composers in this era
Other eras
Style is learned from the technique underneath
Arco's viola curriculum covers the bow strokes, positions, and clef reading these excerpts assume.