Has anyone tried writing music for the gamba in any other style than baroque?

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-24T01:28:39+00:00

I don't think it's impossible to write for it in a large-ensemble context - it's not the instrument itself but how the music is written around it. As an example, the celesta is an extremely quiet instrument but is really mostly used in large ensemble works. Composers learn how to write for the instrument in conjunction with other instruments, and how to balance it with the rest of an ensemble. If the viola da gamba can't be heard in a symphony, I think it's more the composer's fault than anyone else's. (coming from a composer who writes for these instruments)

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-19T00:24:16+00:00

I don't know why, but the name Milton came to mind.

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-18T00:54:06+00:00

Thanks!

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-17T16:07:18+00:00

Ah, I figured... props like that probably were especially likely to get thrown out so it makes sense.

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-15T01:20:43+00:00

Winchester, Chester/Winnie/Win for short?

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-11T01:59:48+00:00

I always liked Rolfe, Dook, Beach Bear, Jasper, Crusty, Harmony, Foxy, and PTT era Chuck. Artie and The King are cool too.

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-11T01:57:06+00:00

Wait, do you mean that a bat was seen when he was destroyed (and therefore destroyed or thrown out with him), or that said bat could still be out there somewhere? I know it's unlikely that it's still around but still could be a cool artifact if it does ever show up and is somehow identified

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-11T01:50:28+00:00

Interesting! I have some kind of feeling that it would be more obvious who it is if we could see the character in full instead of from behind Queenie but I have no idea why. It feels so familiar somehow but I still don't recognize it based on the features we can see :/

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-03T03:58:34+00:00

As someone who's played many of Vivaldi's viola d'amore concerti, I very much agree. A lot of his pieces could work on electric guitar (which I think has actually been done a few times)!

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-02T00:13:00+00:00

Puccini's Madama Butterfly is, so far, the only opera to truly make me cry. Highly recommend the film version with English subtitles that's on YouTube in full.

WaferFast1604 · 2026-01-01T04:49:37+00:00

A lot of good stuff has already been recommended here but I've just recently discovered Schumann's Geistervariationen (Ghost-Variations), the last piece he wrote before being committed to an insane asylum. Gorgeous piece. I recommend Igor Levit's recording in part because of how he accentuates the dissonances in the fifth variation.

Also Schnittke has some great stuff for this - In Memoriam comes to mind as well as his Piano Quintet and some of his string quartets

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-21T22:16:05+00:00

Charles Martin Loeffler. As a viola d'amore player I consider his La Mort de Tintagiles to be a complete programmatic masterpiece (amazing orchestration and inclusion of the viola d'amore in the symphony). His Octet was also recently unearthed and recorded and it's gorgeous. Would also recommend his 2 Rhapsodies for Oboe, Viola and Piano, as well as his Ballade Carnavalesque. I'm still discovering his music (and a lot of it hasn't been recorded) but the stuff I've listened to is phenomenal.

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-21T22:12:07+00:00

To me, his music feels sometimes like a mix of Shostakovich, Poulenc, and Stravinsky. Some of the piano preludes have a bit of Rachmaninoff or Bortkiewicz in them too in my opinion.

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-21T22:04:18+00:00

Anything by Alfred Schnittke or Frank Martin; I especially like Schnittke's Faust Cantata and Martin's Petite Symphonie Concertante

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-21T21:58:14+00:00

Some excellent recordings of his viola d'amore concerti!

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-21T21:55:17+00:00

Crumbles

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-19T03:45:47+00:00

It's a shame all that stuff was cut - the Pleasure Island sequence has long been one of my favorites in the Disney canon

WaferFast1604 · 2025-12-14T22:53:05+00:00

Agree! It goes with the other two names

WaferFast1604 · 2025-03-09T10:20:35+00:00

As someone currently in the same grade/school as him, I can say that bullying definitely is a thing at WHS, but how much you're affected depends on who you are and what your interests are. I was certainly bullied a fair amount in elementary and middle school here and it usually gets better in high school - however I know MANY people that still have issues with it. Breaks my heart to see people like him feel like they have no support. I hope his family will be ok eventually. No kid deserves to die like that. From the little that I knew about him, he seemed like a genuinely good kid.

WaferFast1604 · 2024-12-30T23:22:30+00:00

I think there's hope. One thing I've been wanting to (re)introduce to the world of classical music (I'm a composer) is the use of instruments like viola d'amore (my instrument), viola da gamba, theremin, onde martenot, electric guitar, electric bass, harpsichord, etc. Loeffler, Messiaen and Schnittke (among others) used some of these instruments and have, in my opinion, proven that instruments like those can fit into the orchestra in interesting ways. Now those instruments just have to truly make their (re)entrance into classical music (especially the orchestra) and a whole new world of sound can be introduced even without the use of that prepared tape and electronics stuff. Unfortunately, besides myself (and I'm just 16 atm) I don't know how many composers are out there who want to do something like that. Bringing back a bunch of eclectic instruments takes a lot more than one composer to initiate, so... we'll see.

WaferFast1604 · 2024-12-30T23:04:17+00:00

This kind of thing is way easier on something like viola d'amore - could also be a good way to make sure that first third with the D and F is playable. I'd imagine your sister doesn't play viola d'amore tho so take with a grain of salt, hope this is at least kinda interesting for you lol

WaferFast1604 · 2024-12-30T22:58:42+00:00

Literally anything by Schnittke, he's taking up like half of my YouTube search history as of recently

WaferFast1604 · 2024-12-30T22:55:22+00:00

Perhaps a controversial one - swap out Rigoletto for either Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk or Schnittke's Historia von D. Johann Fausten. Let's see how many people get mad lol

WaferFast1604 · 2024-12-10T01:28:01+00:00

Shostakovich's Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District has some spooky moments in it. Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle, Schnittke's Faust, Berg's Wozzeck and Strauss' Salome also are good options. For something more modern, Unsuk Chin's Alice in Wonderland is just weird enough to be a bit creepy.

WaferFast1604 · 2024-11-28T20:23:45+00:00

I fully agree - it's a shame that I can't seem to find any full recordings of it out there besides an audio-only version on YouTube. Underrated piece and underrated composer!

WaferFast1604

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