Viola pomposa Viola pomposa The viola pomposa (also known as the violino pomposo) is a five-stringed instrument developed around 1725. There are no exact dimensions applicable to all instruments used under this name, although in general the pomposa is slightly wider than a standard viola (hence the Italian adjective "pomposa"). It uses four viola strings, tuned conventionally (C-G-D-A), with the addition of a high E string (usually a violin string), giving it a greater range than the orchestral viola; the trade-off comes in a sound which is slightly more resonant than a violin. The viola pomposa is played on the arm and
The Well-Tuned Piano third, consider that 5:4 is equivalent to 386 cents () and 9:7 is equivalent to 435 cents (). This difference is audible to the listener by comparing the tuning for each pitch of the western chromatic scale with the chromatic scale used in "The Well-Tuned Piano". "The Well-Tuned Piano" is based on a pitch lattice of perfect fifths and harmonic sevenths. "The Well-Tuned Piano", being improvisatory in nature, as well as ever-changing, has no specific form. The closest a listener can come to understanding the structure of Young's piece is by studying the liner notes from the 1981 Gramavision recording.