What is "violotta"

n. A kind of tenor viola or tenor violin tuned an octave below the violin.

A violotta is a tenor viola (or tenor violin) invented by the German luthier Alfred Stelzner and patented in 1891. It is tuned in G D A E, an octave below the violin. Other instruments called " tenor violin" were tuned a step lower: F C G D (a fifth below the viola).

It is rarely used by composers. One of the few works where it is used is the String Quintet in A by Felix Draeseke. It is also used in Max von Schillings' opera Der Pfeifertag (1899), and in Sergei Taneyev's String Trio in E major, Op. 31 (1911).