the.com/viola
the violin's bigger sibling who took up therapy and learned to brood beautifully
means A stringed instrument slightly larger than a violin, tuned a fifth lower, voiced in a warm alto-tenor range and played with a bow.
from From Italian "viola," itself from Old Provençal "viola" or "viula," likely tied to the medieval Latin verb "vitulari," meaning to celebrate or be joyful — possibly with a nod to Vitula, a Roman goddess of joy and victory. The word once covered a whole family of bowed instruments (the viola da gamba, held on the leg, the viola da braccio, held on the arm) before it settled onto the brooding middle child we know today. No relation, despite appearances, to the flower or the Shakespeare heroine, though all three share that soft Latin root.
- clef king
- Only major instrument reading alto clef daily
- butt of jokes
- Whole genre of jokes mocks violists
- inner voice
- Plays harmony, rarely the show-off melody
- tuning
- Strings tuned a fifth below the violin
- Mozart fan
- He chose viola over violin in quartets
viola da gamba — renaissance bowed string instrument with 6-7 strings, prominent in 16th-17th century european court music
viola in shakespeare — heroine of 'twelfth night' (1601), disguises herself as male servant cesario
viola davis — american actress, first black woman to win emmy, golden globe, and oscar in same year (2015)