The Viola pomposa (rarely confused or referred 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 (that's why it is called 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 has a range from C'2 to A'5 (or even higher) with fingered notes. Using harmonics, the range can be extended to C'7 depending on the quality of the strings. It should not be confused with t