Ron MacDonald

I'll defer to the the scholars who have studied this concerto and concluded that there is convincing evidence that the viola concerto came first and that the harpsichord version is a transcription.

Scholars maintain that the harpsichord concerto (BWV 1053) is an arrangement of the original viola concerto and that the cantata parts from which it has been reconstructed are closer to the original.

He also wrote a viola concerto which has been reconstructed from BWV 169, 49 and 1053. It is currently published by Bärenreiter

In fact, the viola was Bach's favorite instrument. We know this from a letter written by one of his son's after his father's death. He wrote: "the viola was my father's favorite instrument".

No one has yet mentioned our own Nathan Slobodkin who makes extraordinarily fine cellos.

Hi Kallie, good to see you back. I checked both Henley and Dilworth. Unfortunately, there is no mention of him. Seems a decent instrument.

That's true at the professional level but not at that of the amateur.

Perhaps your sister-in-law might find Lionel Tertis proposal for orchestral seating interesting. In his autobiography, "My Viola and I", he suggests that the strings should be seated in the centre with first violins in front, followed by seconds, violas, cellos and basses. The winds would be on the right (from the audience's perspective) and the brass on the left--far back.

Best wishes to all! I can't claim to have a viola farm though I do have three of them all by contemporary makers.

Brilliant!!

Heard her in 2005--she was as good as ever!

Bach did write a viola concerto. It was lost but has now been reconstructed and is published by Barenreiter.

I knew Szigeti well during his last two decades. I don't know when he might have owned or played a Seraphin, but when I knew him he had only two instruments, a Peter Guarneri of Venice and a Peter Guarneri of Mantua. These were the only two instruments he used during most of his career. Isaac Stern once opined that one of these (not sure which) was the finest violin in existence. The Tarisio description is at best misleading. Dwight, which of the Guarneris does your friend play?

Perhaps you're just noticing a Romberg fingerboard--normal in cellos.

Yes, many years ago as a young student I worked in a photo lab.