About the viola pomposa revival

Abstract

The viola pomposa is a 5-stringed instrument of baroque origin similar to the traditional orchestral viola, with an additional high E string. It has received divergent names since the late eighteenth century, being confounded with “violino pomposo“, “violino tenor“, “violoncello da spalla“ and even “violoncello piccolo“. It never got popularity probably because of its expensive string maintenance and bigger efforts to be played, reasons which don’t justify anymore its absence from the concert halls. This article describes a Brazilian viola pomposa made by Carlos Martins Del Picchia in Belo Horizonte in 2006 after Guadagnini’s “La Parmigiana“ (1765) and lists an international repertory for the instrument, where the Brazilian production stands out for printed scores and audio/video recordings.