The Viola HISTORY: The viola came into existence in the early to the middle ages of the 16th century. They are the most expensive instruments made in the 16th – 17th century costing at about 27million. Being a member of the string family it is very similar to the violin, they seem to share much of their history. Built to be a larger version of the violin, it was once called the ‘alto-tenor’ violin. To find the correct relationship between the size and volume of sound of the instrument, the makers experimented with different sizes. Stradivari a well known violin craftsmen whom we have learnt about earlier in the year made ten viola’s making them very worthy of having. Some famous composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven have played
