The Hows and Whys of Choosing a Viola
Some Background
The viola is generally considered the string instrument closest in timbre and range to the human voice. As the noted historian and musicologist David D. Boyden points out in The history of Violin Playing from Its Origins to 1761:
Even though the soprano range was gradually becoming higher, the voice registers were still relatively low-pitched by modern standards and would have required more instruments in the alto-tenor register than the soprano. Hence, the need for violas was probably greater, numerically speaking, than the need for violins until fairly late in the sixteenth century. This is one reason why Gasparo da Salo presumably made more violas than violins.
The earliest makers undoubtedly sought to emulate the voice, developing instrument models according to their preferences. Stradivari models tend to produce a brighter sound. Andrea Guarneri, whose work combined traits of earlier Cremonese work and the Bresican school, produced violas that have a darker sound in the lower register than the Strad. Gasparo da Salo and Maggini models are often, but not always, dark.
New instruments sound like their models, assuming the model is faithful in execution. Before testing instruments, try to have made a decision about the kind of sound you prefer. You will then be able to analyze the model before you and understand how the outline of the instrument correlates to the type of sound it will probablly have. If you love a deep and dark sound, don't waste your time with a table full of Strad models.
