Allesandro and Antonio Rolla- works for Viola

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Today I want to talk about the Italian musicians Allesandro and his son Antonio Rolla; Allesandro (1757-1841) was one of the most prolific composers for the viola in the Romantic period. He was conductor of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and violin teacher in the Milan Conservatory (Goldberg, 1957). Furthermore, he was a great violist, that helped him to know the technical capabilities of the instrument for writing with the norms of that musical period. The repertory for viola by this composer is one of the biggest, there are Twelve Concertos for Viola and Orchestra 

(and four incomplete), Fifteen duets for two violas, other Duets for violin and viola, and a lot of chamber music.

    His son Antonio Rolla (1798-1837), continued with the musical tradition, very young started to work whit his father, he was concertmaster in Bolonia and Dresde, in this last place he was recommended by Paganini. Inside his repertory, we can find a Variazioni for Viola, Andante con Variazioni, and Sei piccolo pastorale per Viola sola "Idylles" (little lyrical works in Italian style). I think it is important to know their works, from the pedagogical point of view, in some Viola schools is not taught. and playing this music can give us good technic for future works. 

 We should remember what on those dates, the viola had little solistic works, in comparison to the violin or the piano, both of them since the classicism started to accumulate the repertory that actually we know. Romanticism was an important time for the Viola, since that moment the composers started to write for the instrument, we can mention the Sonata per la Grand Viola by Paganini, Harold in Italy by Berlioz (both works with a story between the composers Paganini and Berlioz), Mendelssohn with the Sonata for Viola and Piano, and Max Bruch with the Concerto for Viola and Clarinet, these are some works, but there are more chamber works where the viola has an important part.   

    In Petrucci Library you can find some works of the Rolla family and on YouTube, there are some videos. In this video plays Hao-Sheng YU the Idylle number 1 by Antonio Rolla.

Luis Chab

References:

Goldberg, L. (1975). Virtuoso Viola Music Before Paganini. American String Teacher.