Viola in french music of the first half of the 20th century: performance and pedagogy

The article presents the history of viola performance in the musical art of France in the late XIX –early XX centuries, associated with the formation of the national pedagogical school and the appearance of several famous works of chamber and ensemble repertoire. T. Laforge, P. Monte, A. Kazadezus, L. Bailly, P.-L. Neubert, M. Vieux, in many respects were the initiators of this process, which reflected technical and artistic merits of the instrument in the light of bright cultural transformations of the era, in the variety of ideas and meanings, their realization in the works of modern French composers.