Instruments
Viola
Although it has been said that a viola and a Scud missile share the qualities of offensiveness and inaccuracy, the viola has a history as venerable as that of the violin, its smaller cousin. It arose along with the violin in early fifteenth-century northern Italy, and many of the great Italian violin makers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries made violas as well. The viola is the alto (or second-highest) member of the modern family of bowed stringed instruments, and became ensconsed in classical music with the rise of the string-dominated orchestra during the Baroque era. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, composers exploited the viola's warm tone and power in a series of works featuring viola solos, the most famous perhaps being Berlioz's Harold in Italy. Unlike the violin, cello, and bass, however, the viola has had a limited role outside of classical music, appearing only as a member of the pop string section.