JAVS Summer 2026

Featured Article

The Classical Cadenza: A Historically Informed Approach to Stamitz’s Viola Concerto by Xue Ding

orchestral traditions of the eighteenth century. A violinist in the Mannheim orchestra before establishing himself in Paris as a composer and performer, Stamitz was widely admired as both a violist and composer. His three surviving viola concertos were likely written for his own performances, and the D-major concerto, first published in 1773–74, remains his best-known contribution to the instrument’s repertoire. The History of Cadenza The cadenza originated as an improvised embellishment of a cadence and gradually evolved into a distinct feature of the Baroque and Classical concerto. Because cadenzas were typically extemporized, their early history is difficult to trace. Most scholars agree that they emerged from the seventeenth-century practice of elaborating final cadences, a tradition that allowed performers to demonstrate both technical skill and musical imagination. 4 Early references appear in performance instructions rather than fully notated examples. In a 1688 sinfonia by Pietro Sammartini, for example, performers were instructed to “improvise a capriccio” over a written bass line. 5 By the early eighteenth century, short solo passages over sustained bass notes—sometimes referred to as perfidie —had become increasingly common. 6 The earliest surviving written instrumental cadenzas date from this period, suggesting that a practice once transmitted primarily through performance was gradually being codified. 7 Johann Joachim Quantz later observed that the standardized concerto cadenza, in which the bass temporarily ceased and the soloist performed alone, became widespread between approximately 1710 and 1716. 8

Introduction Carl Stamitz’s Viola Concerto in D Major is one of the few surviving viola concertos from the Classical period and remains a cornerstone of the modern viola repertoire. Like many eighteenth-century concertos, however, it survives without a written first-movement cadenza. Because cadenzas were traditionally improvised by performers, modern violists must decide whether to adopt an existing cadenza or create one of their own. This article argues that a historically informed cadenza for Stamitz’s concerto can be constructed through the synthesis of eighteenth-century performance treatises, surviving Classical-period cadenzas, and stylistic features of the concerto itself. To establish such a framework, I examine writings by Johann Joachim Quantz and Daniel Gottlob Türk, modern studies of Classical cadenza practice by David Lasocki and Betty Bang Mather, and selected cadenzas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. I also consider modern cadenzas for the Stamitz concerto by Robert Levin, Clements Meyer, and Franz Beyer, both Levin and Beyer encouraging performers to create their own cadenzas. Although no known source discusses cadenza composition specifically for Stamitz’s viola concerto, eighteenth-century treatises and surviving cadenzas provide valuable evidence for reconstructing appropriate stylistic conventions. While much of this evidence originates from keyboard, violin, and woodwind traditions, the shared musical language of the Classical period makes these sources relevant to viola performance practice. As the son of Johann Stamitz and a prominent representative of the Mannheim School, Carl Stamitz (1745–1801) inherited one of the most influential

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, Summer 2026 Online Issue

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