Title: Rediscovering a Masterpiece: Gyula Dávid’s Viola Concerto on IMSLP
When violists talk about 20th-century concertos, the conversation usually starts with Bartók, Hindemith, and Walton. But Hungary produced another remarkable composer-violist: Gyula Dávid. His Viola Concerto (1950) is a tight, three-movement work that balances warm lyricism with rhythmic energy.
What you’ll find on IMSLP:
Why you should learn it:
How to access:
Go to IMSLP.org → Search “Dávid” → Select “Viola Concerto” → Download free PDFs of score and part. Gyula David Viola Concerto Imslp
Gyula Dávid was a multifaceted musician; a violist, violinist, and composer who studied with Zoltán Kodály. This pedigree is essential. Kodály’s ethos—that folk music should not merely be quoted but should serve as the seed from which a composed work grows—is deeply embedded in Dávid’s philosophy.
Dávid composed his Viola Concerto in the immediate post-war years, a period of intense creative output in Hungary before the strictures of Socialist Realism fully gripped the cultural apparatus. Unlike the harsh dissonance of the Western European avant-garde, Dávid’s concerto is rooted in tonality but utilizes a sophisticated harmonic language that reflects the "peasant" modality of Hungarian folk song. Why you should learn it:
The work was premiered in the late 1940s (specifically 1949), a time when the viola was beginning to shed its reputation as merely an orchestral filler instrument. Dávid, having played the viola himself, understood the instrument’s soul—its melancholy, its capacity for songful lyricism, and its potential for surprising virtuosity.
If you manage to download the Gyula David Viola Concerto Imslp file (or purchase the legal edition), keep these interpretive insights in mind: How to access: Go to IMSLP