Viol del Amoré

Departed are the times when a violist was regarded as one who could no longer make the grade as a violinist and, rather than relegate the unfortunate to the trash heap of unwanted things, he was, out of pity and charity, demoted to the alto section of an orchestra otherwise sound in body and spirit! … The fingerings, I dare think, explore the realms of the virtuoso and are not so much a means to an end as an end in themselves. In turn, if properly surmounted, the difficulties encountered will lead to a more musicianly approach than the earlier ‘safety first’ methods evoked.

William Primrose

41 Caprices Bartolomeo Campagnoli (1751 – 1827)