Violin and Viola 

The violin is a string instrument which has four strings and is played with a bow. The strings are usually tuned to the notes G, D, A, and E. It is held between the left collar bone (near the shoulder) and the chin. Different notes are made by fingering (pressing on the strings) with the left hand while bowing with the right. Unlike guitar, it has no frets or other markers on the fingerboard. 

A viola is a musical instrument which is similar to the violin and cello. The viola sounds lower than a violin, but higher than a cello. It has four strings, called the C, G, D, and A strings. The highest string is the A. You might think a viola is a violin as they look so similar – the viola is larger, has slightly lower notes and has a more mellow sound. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 

Mozart was born 27th January 1756 in Salzburg, Austria and died at the age of 35. He is considered by some to be one of the greatest composers of classical music ever. He was composing music when he was 5 years old and by the end of his life, had written over 600 pieces of music! Mozart was an incredible musician as he could listen to music just once and then go away and write it down without any mistakes! Although he wrote great music, he did not make much money from it. He died very poor. 

Here are some other examples of Viola duets. They are not written by Mozart but you might recognise them as popular music. The first is an arrangement of the theme tune from 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. The second piece of music is a classical arrangement of the Taylor Swift song 'Wildest Dreams'.