viola tenor marco massera

RARE TENOR VIOLA, Anonymous VENEZIA, XVII century played by Marco Massera

[@nelsongrimaldi3344]

Best viola sound I ever heard, marvelous, just proving that size does matter in the end

[@marcomassera3021]

nelson grimaldi thanks! And, I m agree totally! It’s hard, but possible :)

[@TechnoGlowStick]

O_O

[@soooti6993]

As a baroque violinist and viola player I need a tenor viola too… I love that depth of the sound!

[@unkobold]

Amazing sound ! I hate people who despise the alto - as an instrument for bad violon players. And here is the proof that in good hands, « low violins » can be very expressive and colourful in an astonishing manner ! We need more instruments of this type, and more dedicated students who will strive to lmmake them sing with their full voice !

[@DrTheRich]

Ii wish there was so much more music of this instrument :( Yours is one of the few I can find online.

[@craigcowing1107]

What a rich and wonderful sound!

[@marcomassera6922]

Craig Cowing Many thanks :)

[@KokoMcMonkey]

What a beautiful tone. Violas can be stuffy in the lower register or screechy in the upper, but this one has a remarkably even tone throughout.

[@cymbae83]

Beautiful sound!

[@SamLamingMusic]

Absolutely love the tone you are getting from this Instrumet + Your skill. Wonderful video on the ever rare Tenor Viola - Something I'm absolutely interested in so thank you!

[@marcomassera6922]

SamLamingMusic thanks a lot! And good luck for your interesting videos :)

[@TheAnonyy]

Beautiful instrument,not keen on the dark colouring but the sound more than makes up for it.

[@ViolaaltaGraz]

Nice instrument - and well played! Greetings from a tenor violist,

[@bystroffc]

Hello Carl Smith -- I am another tenor violist. Hi!

[@travis5125]

Nice! I was looking for 51 centimeter viola and found this.

[@ljonathan9661]

Thank you for posting. gorgeous sound.

[@marcomassera3021]

L RosaLeBron grazie mille :)

[@SarumChoirmaster]

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE have this viola scanned via electronic means such as MRI so that Luthiers the world over can obtain the exact measurements. I would pay a lot of money to have a copy of this instrument made.

[@SamLamingWingsuit]

MRI scans aren't needed for Luthiers to take Measurements - I have a device which uses 2 magnets to measure top, back and rib thicknesses, and taking an outline of an Instrument is simple enough. There are Stradivari and Amati Tenor Violas in Museums as well, both look absolutely wonderful. I'm half way through a copy of the Amati. The A at 415 is a historic point - Viol players do the same for example.

[@miguelmarquez4192]

When its tuned to 415, are all strings down a half step? It sounds like a b natural on the lowest string.

[@AndytheChav]

Amazing! 🥰

[@serenaluce]

Very beautiful! Love it!

[@bystroffc]

Nice sound! I believe the tenor viola was tuned FCGd or GDae.

[@marcomassera3021]

Chris Bystroff hi! Thanks ! I explain that in my last commentary :)

[@doggoofthebath5593]

what is the piece at 5:29? I want to try it

[@rocconapolitano6777]

Ciao Marco, complimenti.

[@mollyleary9611]

Hello! I was wondering what piece you're playing after the Biber's Passacaglia? Thanks!

[@marcomassera6922]

Hello It’s a theme from a Napolitain villanella, XVI c.a.

[@SamLamingWingsuit]

Listening to this again and again. Such a good sound! Could you tell me the name of the piece you start playing at 2:43? I want to try to learn! Thanks

[@marcomassera6922]

Sam Laming many thanks! At 2:43 I started to play the Biber’s Passacaglia. Greetings :)

[@SarumChoirmaster]

This tenor viola is just tuned down a half-step (A=415). I would love to know a lot more about this instrument and would like to see it measured in great detail via MRI scanning and other high tech scans. It would be great if more vids would be made with this instrument and placed here on youtube. Who owns this instrument? Is it for sale?

[@marcomassera3021]

Viola Bear hello! I am the owner of this viola, and I don’t sale it. The pitch is 415 and in a sort of vallotti temperament that I did it for this video. I will post more vids, sure.

[@marcomassera3021]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jni7l3d_fZ6cfZY

[@dsokind]

Fantastic instrument and playing! How long is the body (corpus) and the stringth length of this viola?

[@marcomassera3021]

dsokind thanks ! It’s 46 cm

[@dsokind]

@@marcomassera3021 Thank you Marco. I still wonder about the stringth length of this wonderfull viola. The reason? I do play on a later (end of 19th century) German (Dresden) viola with a body length of 45.40 and would like to compare the vibrating stringth length of mine with this much older and rarer Italian one.

[@marcomassera6922]

dsokind hi sorry for the late answer. You can add me on fb?

[@elsipario]

Prezioso! di quanti cm di lunghezza è questa viola?

[@marcomassera6922]

46 ☺️

[@OurMagicalNature]

That's a nice sounding viola! Am I correct that a tenor viola is viola sounding a few notes lower than a regular viola?

[@jonathanvalk726]

no, it's only a half step lower (baroque tuning), but the sound is different because the largeness of the viola

[@OurMagicalNature]

Ah, thanks. The sound is indeed something special!

[@jonathanvalk726]

I was speaking about the instrument presented here, but after reading your question, I realised that you asked about the term tenor viola. A tenor viola can have two meanings. Or it's a big viola that is tuned lower then a normal viola: G-D-A-e (octaaf lower then violin, so you're right about that) or it's just a normal tuned, but larger viola (C-G-d-a). In this case it's the last option. You could probably try lower strings on this instrument, but since nearly all baroque viola parts are written for C-G-d-a, it would't be very practical. Also, the string lenght from a normal viola is relatively short, so it's an big improvement for the color of the sound when an instrument tuned like C-G-d-a has a larger body. When you start to tune it lower, you will end up having the same problem with a normal viola: the string length is a too short to produce a great sound. And if you want to have an instrument thats tuned like G-D-A-e, you might like the 5-string violoncello da spalla, an shouldercello, that is tuned like: C"-G-D-A-e!

[@OurMagicalNature]

Thanks for your elaborate reply! I experimented with lowering my violin and viola strings in the past but as you say, that doesn't produce a very good sound. However, I have put on a cello string on my violin at one time and that gave a surprising nice sound if you played it together with another string. I kinda forgot about the violoncello da spalla so thanks for the tip! I might buy a 1/16 cello on day and start playing it like a violoncello da spalla. I really like the sound and play style of that.

[@marcomassera3021]

Jonathan Valk thanks for the rich and interesting explanation. I add something more: i use for this video not just a 415 A diapason, but also two different kinds of tunings: Viotti/Yung for Bach and Telemann and the Mesothonic for the last old popular Italian song.

[@szeal]

What type of strings are used for this?

[@alandana]

What are its measures? Alan

[@the0n3buc5uc]

may i have a list of the songs you played?

[@marcomassera3021]

Cedrik Beiwel excepts from Sonata et Partitas, J S Bach, Fantasie from Telemann and some Napolitaine popular Ciacconas of XVII cen

[@davidcabral657]

How many inches or centimeters is the body length?

[@marcomassera6922]

David Cabral 45,8 cm

[@douglaslanzillo3996]

Who is the difference for the Classic Viola?

[@Cellosong2007]

Some early baroque Violas have shorter fingerboard, Classical ones (1750-1820) began having longer fingerboards until the length of the modern day violas

[@gensoustudio6270]

shoulder rest on a baroque viola? no thank you. also bad for the neck

[@marcomassera6922]

A philological approach is not about to use or not an accessory, chin off or on and so on, but searching the beauty of the prosody of the baroque language! I prefer emotions than conventions...And I Never had problem with my neck 😉anyway many thanks for your nice tip 😋

[@gensoustudio6270]

@@marcomassera6922 well yes the music is always beautiful and it's your taste and ability to use it comfortably of course. Not a criticism against you at all! Just saying that for myself, the clamp is something I can both feel and hear the difference of when playing. I would struggle! Thanks for your reply :)

[@marcomassera3021]

Hi guys. The tenor viola in XVII century in Italy, could be tuned in different ways, as you can see reading and studying tonnes of manuscript edition of music in that century. In France was called “taille” and it was tuned as a modern viola. It depended about roles and necessities, so nothing was so fixed as we can think today. Many thanks to everyone who appreciated this video! I have a KZbin channel where I play the Nino Rota “Intermezzo”, if you like to listen it. Marco Massera

[@Fradamore]

Ciao Marco, eri in classe con me alle magistrali all'istituti agnesii. Io ti rocordo per le bellissime a creativissime scuse quando arrivavi in ritardo per la lezione di chimica. Bello vedere che fai un lavoro che ami. Complimenti