A viola concerto is a concerto contrasting a viola with another body of musical instruments such as an orchestra or chamber music ensemble. Throughout music history, especially during the Baroque, Classical, Romantic eras, viola was viewed mostly as an ensemble instrument. Though there were a few notable concertos written for the instrument in this time period, these instances were quite rare and the instrument continued to be ignored. However, during the 20th century, the instrument was revitalized thanks to the work of a number of violists and composers, which led to the commission and composition of many more viola concertos, expanding the repertoire significantly.
First page of the viola solo part, in the manuscript parts set of Hoffmeister's viola concerto in D
Lionel Tertis
William Primrose
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. He is one of the most prolific composers in history, at least in terms of surviving oeuvre. Telemann was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time, and he was compared favourably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally.
Hand-coloured aquatint of Telemann by Valentin Daniel Preisler, after a lost painting by Louis Michael Schneider, 1750
Magdeburg, Telemann's birthplace, in the early 18th century. Some 50 years before Telemann's birth the city was sacked and had to be rebuilt.
Telemann c. 1745, engraving by Georg Lichtensteger
