structural:reformatting, stylistic:tone
Notable violists

There are few well-known viola virtuoso soloists, perhaps because little virtuoso viola music was written before the twentieth century. Pre-twentieth century viola players of note include Stamitz, Rolla, Antonio Rolla, Chrétien Urhan, Casimir Ney, Louis van Waefelghem, and Ritter. Important viola pioneers from the twentieth century were Tertis, William Primrose, Hindemith, Théophile Laforge, Cecil Aronowitz, Maurice Vieux, Borisovsky, Lillian Fuchs, Dino Asciolla, Frederick Riddle, Walter Trampler, Ernst Wallfisch, Csaba Erdélyi, the only violist to ever win the Carl Flesch International Violin Competition, and Emanuel Vardi, the first violist to record the 24 Caprices by Paganini on viola. Many noted violinists have publicly performed and recorded on the viola as well, among them Eugène Ysaÿe, Yehudi Menuhin, David Oistrakh, Pinchas Zukerman, Maxim Vengerov, Julian Rachlin, James Ehnes, and Nigel Kennedy.

Among the great composers, several preferred the viola to the violin when they were playing in ensembles, the most noted being Ludwig van Beethoven, Bach and Mozart. Other composers also chose to play the viola in ensembles, including Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvořák, and Benjamin Britten. Among those noted both as violists and as composers are Rebecca Clarke and Hindemith. Contemporary composers and violists Kenji Bunch, Scott Slapin, and Lev Zhurbin have written a number of works for viola.