Karl Stumpf (1907-1988), born in Vienna, was a violist in the Vienna Philharmonic and the Vienna State Opera, as well as a professor of viola d’amore in the famous Vienna Akademie für Musik (now Hochschule). The viola d’amore, of the viol family, has seven playing strings and a series of resonant or sympathetic strings. It was developed at the beginning of the seventeenth century for reasons of and a desire for augmenting the sonority. Stumpf performed chamber music, made recordings, contributed scholarly articles to ten professional publications in four different countries, edited many early viola d’amore pieces, and wrote several compositions himself. His many editions have added immeasurably to the available viola d’amore repertory and his fine recordings brought many unknown viola d’amore works to the general public on a large scale. He died on October 22, 1988.
Source Rosenblum, Myron. “Professor Karl Stumpf”, Newsletter of The Viola d’more Society of America. 12, (November, 1988), p.8-9.
From the guide to the Karl Stumpf viola d'amore scores, 1750-1999, (The New York Public Library. Music Division.)
