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In Focus: A 1753 viola by Carlo Antonio Testore

2025-04-25T09:24:00

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Sean Bishop takes a look at a relatively rare example of an 18th-century Italian viola

Italian violas of the 17th and 18th centuries are rare. For reasons unknown, composers neglected the viola in this time and so did makers. Antonio Stradivari made more than 600 violins but only around twelve violas. For today’s violist, the early instruments that do exist are either too small or too large (although, of course, many have now been cut down)…

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