Carl Stamitz: Viola Concerto in D major, Op.1
German composer Carl Stamitz lived from 1745-1801. He was born in Mannheim, Germany where he played viola in the famous Mannheim Orchestra for 8 years before moving to Paris in 1770. Although he and his brother Anton were fine musicians, receiving excellent training from their father and other notable court musicians, Carl, along with his wife, died in relative poverty due to lack of work. Stamitz left Paris in 1777 and became a freelance musician, composing and playing in cities like London, Hamburg, Berlin, Dresden and Prague, desperately looking for a permanent position. Although he wrote over 60 concertos, his viola concerto in D major is one of his few known works, composed in 1774 while he was living in Paris. It has become one of the staples in the violist repertoire and was composed, we think, for his own performance to show off his virtuosic technique, the piece filled with chords, harmonics and even left-hand pizzicato. The concerto is scored for solo viola, 2 horns and 2 clarinets and strings, written in three movements in the typical fast-slow-fast form.
