Is there any folk viola music? If you play viola or play fiddle folk music, you might have wondered.

Some years ago I joined a folk group of fiddlers in UK and have been playing with them for some time.

I joined them because I liked the music and wanted to try something new, different from classical music I used to play. Also I wanted to learn play by ear. In fact folk players play without reading, which is something that most classically trained players cannot do.

Who wrote folk music?

With the term "folk music" is generally intended the music which is traditional, typical of a country, the product of a community rather than of a professional composers, so in most cases folk music is by "anonymous".

What we today call folk music was very familiar to "serious" composer (I mean those composers famous as classical music composers) who took inspiration from it. Baroque suites were works inspired by folk dances of the time; Haydn, the viola player Mozart and more composers wrote ländler (the most common folk dance in Austria and other countries); the viola player Beethoven spent several years working for a Scottish publisher writing piano trio arrangements of Scottish folk music and planned to write similar arrangements of other countries' folk music. Brahms wrote his very famous Hungarian dances for piano and then for orchestra, the viola player Dvorak knew folk music and wrote his Slavonic dances, Bartok was the first composer able to actually record live folk music performed by Rumanian village players and took inspiration from them, writing his orchestral Rumanian folk dances. Vaughan Williams did the same with English folk songs and there are more examples.

The following is a popular folk tune called Michael Turner's waltz but it also appears in Mozart's catalogue of works (K536), it's a trio and is nearly exactly the same tune, apart from a few notes.

How to play folk viola music (fiddle music) 

Back to folk viola music. So what I learned is that all this fiddle music was written down later by someone who wanted to pass on the tradition and there are many collections available.

What I do with the fiddle group is this: I play the same melody doing some adjustments changing octave here and there, basically whenever fiddles play on the E string I play an octave lower. These register changes sometimes require some other adjustments because I can't use two strings or an open string as they do. Sometimes I can add some extra notes and play chords with the tune and in many cases the viola range enables me to play two versions of a tune in two different octaves (while fiddles can't). See Michael Turner's waltz, Fanny Power and Miss Rowan Davies in this page. I like this because the viola tone adds a very special touch to a bunch of fiddles which would be ear piercing otherwise and a bit monotone (just a viola player's opinion).

The Irish folk tunes
Sportsman's hornpipe and The road to Lisdonvaarna

Buy downloadable sheet music
Sportsman’s Hornpipe
The Road to Lisdoonvarna

I think being able to play different styles enriches the player, you too could try it.

Fiddle music is quite simple and can be useful for beginners to learn new tunes, although advanced player can play it skilfully and make it really impressive. Because of the octave change that breaks the melody, some of these arrangements work very well played in a group but I don't like them in a solo context.

Some folk viola tunes

To add variety to your repertoire, you can mix different genres and styles of music. Here are some folk tunes that sound nice played solo on the viola and that I play: English, Scottish, Irish, American, songs and dances (waltzes, jigs, etc.), including some of the most famous ones.

You can also see some of them in the vidoes on this spage. The following three videos are of three tunes that go well together, watch them in succession.

Another suitable folk viola tune: The greenwood tree

The south wind

The Irish folk tune Fanny Power by Turlough O'Carolan
played on the mellow viola

Here is a list of some tunes and songs that sound great on a solo viola:

The greenwood tree, The south wind, Fanny Power, Michael Turner’s waltz, Iron legs, Sportsman’s hornpipe, The road to Lisdoonvarna, Greensleeves, Ye banks and braes, Skye boat song, My Bonnie, My love is like a red, red rose, Ashokan farewell, Inneshere, Old Danny boy, Carrickfergus, Philadelphia soldier's joy, Bonaparte’s retreat, Miss Rowan Davies, Dark island, Sally Gardens, The land of my fathers (Welsh National anthem).

Listen to and play
folk viola music

So if you've decided you'd like to play some folk viola music, listen to some folk music (better if it's live), join a band, play by ear (more on this later).

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Technical notes:
Some of these files, not all, are compressed (zipped) files. To unzip them, here you can download Winzip

Zip files:
To download the file, click on it and then choose Save.

Non zip files:
To hear the file, click on it.
To download the file, right click on it and then choose Save target as...

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How about some famous folk viola tunes by some classic masters?

Johann Sebastian Bach

Cello suite n. 1 in C major BWV 1007;
Download free sheet music two files: the viola version and the cello original
Download free MIDI file

Cello suite n. 2 in d minor BWV 1008;
Download free sheet music two files: the viola version and the cello original
Download free MIDI file

Cello suite n. 3 in Eb major BWV 1009; Download free MIDI file

Cello suite n. 4 in Eb major BWV 1010;
Download free sheet music two files: the viola version and the cello original
Download free MIDI file

Cello suite n. 5 in Eb major BWV 1011; Download free MIDI file

Cello suite n. 6 in Eb major BWV 1012; Download free MIDI file

Johannes Brahms

Hungarian Dance;
in Halloween Collection, Scary compositions arrangements for viola and piano, for a special night!

Download free MIDI file Buy sheet music with Mp3 file

Max Bruch

Kol Nidrei for viola and piano op.47 (Kol Nidre; ‘All Vows’), an Adagio on Hebrew melodies; Download free MIDI file Buy sheet music with Mp3 file

Vittorio Monti

Czardas for viola and piano (originally for violin); have fun with this very famous Hungarian style folk work; Download free MIDI file Buy sheet music with Mp3 file

Traditional

Amazing Grace
in Very easy collection for solo viola
Download free MIDI files Buy sheet music with Mp3 file

Auld Lang Syne, Words by Robert Burns
Famous Scottish song for viola and piano in G major, viola and piano; Download free MIDI file Buy sheet music with Mp3 file

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Mp3 files of folk viola music and by famous composers inspired by folk music

	Moldavia: The Art Of Bratsch (Viola)   Listen to the folk viola playing of eastern Europe music!
	Moldavia: The Art Of Bratsch (Viola) Volume 2 More folk viola music from eastern Europe

Bruch: Kol Nidrei for viola and piano, Op. 47 (Kol Nidre; ‘All Vows’) an Adagio on Hebrew melodies

Hindemith: Der Schwanendreher Concerto for viola and small orchestra based on German folk songs. In composer's words, the soloist is one ‘who comes among merry company and performs the music he has brought from afar: songs grave and gay and, to conclude, a dance’. Movements are entitled: (1) Zwischen Berg und tiefem Tal (Between mountain and deep valley); (2) Nun laube, Lindlein, laube (Now shed your leaves, little linden); (3) Seid ihr nicht der Schwanendreher? (Is it not the swan‐turner?). William Primrose, viola

19th Century Viola Music by Brahms, Joachim, Sitt and Enesco Joachim, Hebrew Melodies Opus 9 Brahms Sonata, opus 78 In Da Major Hans Sitt, Album Leaves, Opus 39 George Enesco, Concertpiece

...and more music is coming all the time, come and visit again for more free music download, more free viola music.

Here is a link to a great website about folk music, where you can find a huge number of tunes, lists of sessions, events around the world, discussions, links: The Session

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