Forum: music.stackexchange.com
Tags: <performing>
Title: Replacing Viola and Basso continuo
Question: I want to perform "Queen of Sheba" with some friends of mine. In my score I need two oboes, two violins, one viola and a basso continuo. Unfortunately I do not have neither a viola nor a basso continuo. Which instruments are suited for replacing them? I already was thinking about an euphonium for the basso continuo, is this ok? Which instrument is then well suited for replacing a viola? Clarinet, Trumpet?

Answers:
sents: text: First remark: basso continuo is no real instrument.
text: In history it was often played by one of harpsichord, chamber organ, dulcian/basson, viola da gamba/violoncello or lute/theorbo, but harp would also be viable.
text: If not explicitly set for piano-like instrument one may encountered a figured bass, which consists of a single note and a number denoting the harmony.
text: Expanding the number to chords, arpeggios or other ornamentation is an advanced technique, so you may restrict to the given notes.
text: The suggested euphonium is likely to cover (in the sense of being louder than) the violins, even if the range matches and so is unlikely to blend.
text: This disadvantage is shared in my opinion by the sax family and other brass instruments in that configuration.
text: The viola is somewhat hard to substitute, since it is notated in the alto clef, which is very seldom for other instruments.
text: So that part had to be adjusted to a different clef, possibly also involving transposition, one choice would be a second violoncello playing in the higher positions.
text: The viola part is probably intended to fill the gap between melody and bass instruments, so it definitely should be less prominent than your melody instruments.
text: Since "Queen of Sheba" is quite popular, you may find ready-made settings for different ensembles easily, so you don't have to work it out yourself.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/2600/guidot
score: 4
sents: text: As you can see in the following chart
text: There isn't any instrument that has the exact range of the Viola .
text: This means that if you replace a viola with another instrument, you won't be able to play all the notes.
text: This doesn't mean that you cannot replace it.
text: See the score you want and look at the highest and the lowest note of the viola part and find an instrument in the chart that can play them.
text: That could be a violin, a flute, a hard or something.
text: For the bass continuo you could try a Bassoon, a Baritone Sax or a Harpsichord.
text: Again, look at the range of the bass score and you'll be able to figure out which instrument to use
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/7356/Shevliaskovic
score: 2
sents: text: The lowest note of a Bb clarinet is a D, just a tone above the low C string of a viola.
text: This would probably be the best replacement, of the options you suggest, particularly as the warm, rounded tone of the clarinet will blend well with the other instruments.
text: As for the basso continuo part, a number of low instruments would be well suited to playing this part (your suggestion of Euphonium seems like it should have an appropriate range).
text: But, be aware, a basso continuo part is usually played on a chordal instrument too, for instance harpsichord, expanding upon the bass line using figured bass notation.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/9198/Bob Broadley
score: 2
sents: text: Lots of good suggestions here.
text: I agree with Bob about the clarinet being a decent replacement for the viola.
text: Another possibility, not previously mentioned, would be the "English Horn" (or Cor Anglais), which would blend well with the oboes.
text: Depending on how high the part goes, you might get by playing it on a bassoon (though, if you have a bassoonist, they should by all means play the continuo part!).
text: A French Horn would fit the range, but would probably be too overpowering, like the Euphonium.
text: A less-ideal solution -- but possibly worth considering if all else fails -- is to just drop the viola part (with apologies to violists!).
text: You would certainly miss the full texture, but unless there's a viola obbligato part in this particular piece, it's probably just filling out the full tutti texture in the orchestral sections.
text: Certainly an important (if thankless) job, but if you have a decent chordal instrument on the continuo (e.g harpsichord, piano, organ, guitar, etc...)
text: then they're hopefully filling in these chords as well.
text: EDIT: I just read through the score, while listening, and I noticed that the viola part never goes below G, so it technically falls within the range of a third violin, if you have one available.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/10637/Caleb Hines
score: 2
sents: text: Basso continuo is not the name of a certain instrument.
text: It is a designation for a musical part that you can assign to one of several instruments in a kind of Baroque "rhythm section", comprised of one or more instruments that play chords, together with one or more instruments that play a bass line.
text: But the sheet music for the basso continuo part is always one staff of music with a bass line represented by notes, together with tiny chord symbols beneath the notes written in a type of notation called figured bass.
text: For continuo , you need either a keyboard-family instrument or a guitar-family instrument, and a musician who knows how to read the chord notation and improvise a chordal accompaniment.
text: One euphonium can only play the bass line, not the chords, so that will not be sufficient.
text: A Baroque ensemble might easily have four or five musicians playing the basso continuo part: for example, a harpsichord and theorbo playing the continuo chords together with a cello, upright bass and a bassoon playing the bass line in unison.
text: At the very least you need at least one keyboard playing the chords and the bass line together.
text: To that you can add a euphonium or some other bass instrument doubling the bass line in the keyboardist's left hand.
answer_details: author: music.stackexchange.com/users/None/
score: 1

Summary of the answers:
To play Baroque music, you can substitute the Viola with a Clarinet. The basso continuo could be replaced by a Bassoon, a Baritone Sax or a Harpsichord.
There is no instrument with the exact range of the viola, but the clarinet might be a suitable replacement. Meanwhil, for the basso continuo, you might want to try a bassoon, a harpsichord or several low instruments.