Quartetto No. 15 A minor

This work occupies a special place among Paganini's quartets, it being the only one of the 15 quartets with a guitar part in which the viola is assigned the privileged role of solo instrument. There are only two other works which share this exceptional feature, and these are the Sonata per la Gran Viola, published by Zimmermann and arranged for viola and guitar by Paul Bulatoff (ZM 22570) and the Terzetto concertante for viola, violoncello and guitar in a new edition by Kurt Schumacher (ZM 34070). Paganini's works are strongly influenced by Italian opera; he loved singing, and the sound of the viola reminded him of the human voice. During his stay in Paris in 1834, he had a particularly large viola built according to his specifications which he called "Contraviola Paganini" and whose tone is said to have been strikingly similar to the human voice.