Carl Stamitz played the viola and the viola d'amore in the Mannheim orchestra alongside his father Johann, and wrote for the instrument from the inside. The D major concerto published as his op. 1 is the only viola concerto securely attributed to him and one of the earliest to treat the viola as a soloist rather than an inner voice. It appeared in print in Frankfurt in 1774 from the publisher Wilhelm Nikolaus Haueisen; the accompaniment is two clarinets, two horns and strings, the clarinets a Mannheim speciality.