The viola, like the accordion and the banjo, is often the butt of musical jokes. Not as dramatic as its string cousins the violin or the cello, the viola nevertheless has a beautiful sound and is a ...

Never gets old, unless it’s... old. Don’t shoot the messenger, but this joke from 1714 could be the earliest known viola joke. According to Wiki, the well-trodden genre of the viola joke could have ...

IT’S the dumb blonde of the string section, the Rodney Dangerfield of the orchestra, the Polish joke of the music world. We speak of the viola, that ungainly love child of the violin and cello. Don’t ...

In the hierarchical world of classical musicians, viola players, more than most, have had to bear the strings and arrows of outrageous fortune. For nearly five centuries, they have been portrayed -- ...