"THE VIOLA: CINDERELLA NO MORE! " LIONEL TERTIS AND

FRANCISCO FERREIRA PAMPULHA
1173201
"THE VIOLA: CINDERELLA NO MORE! "
LIONEL TERTIS AND WILLIAM PRIMROSE AS PIONEERS OF
CONTEMPORARY VIOLA PLAYING
Wissenschaftliche Masterarbeit
Masterstudium Viola V 066 717
Betreuerin: Ao. Univ. Prof. Mag. Dr. Ingeborg HARER
Inst.15: Alte Musik und Aufführungspraxis
UNIVERSITÄT FÜR MUSIC UND DARSTELLENDE
KUNST GRAZ
2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
ABSTRACTS
1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
2
PREFACE
3
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1. MAIN PURPOSE AND LITERATURE REVIEW
4
1.2. THE VIOLA: A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
7
1.3. LIONEL TERTIS AND WILLIAM PRIMROSE: BIOGRAPHICAL
AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
12
2. PRE-TWENTIETH CENTURY VIOLA LITERATURE
2.1. VIOLA TRANSCRIPTIONS AND ARRANGMENTS
20
2.1.1. THE TRANSCRIPTION PROCESS
20
2.1.2. COMPOSERS AND LITERATURE TRANSCRIBED
22
2.2. ORIGINAL WORKS FOR VIOLA
27
2.3. TOWARDS THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY:
LIONEL TERTIS AND WILLIAM PRIMROSE'S PROMINENT
CONTRIBUTION
39
3. THE VIOLA AS A VIRTUOSIC AND SOLO INSTRUMENT:
TWENTIETH CENTURY REPERTOIRE
3.1. TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC: BRIEF OVERVIEW
49
3.2. TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC FOR VIOLA
53
CONCLUSION
75
BIBLIOGRAPHY
77
ABSTRACTS
"THE VIOLA: CINDERELLA NO MORE!" LIONEL TERTIS AND WILLIAM
PRIMROSE AS PIONEERS OF CONTEMPORARY VIOLA PLAYING.
The viola has long been seen as minor solo instrument. This conception arose
out of composers' misunderstanding of the instrument. However, with the improvement
of its construction and its rediscovery by performers and composers, the popularity of
the viola gradually but steadily began to improve, attaining a greater importance in the
orchestra as well as in chamber music. In the beginning of the twentieth century, many
composers began to write for the viola, inspired by virtuoso soloists such as Paul
Hindemith (1895-1963), William Primrose (1903-1982), and Lionel Tertis (1896-1975).
The purpose of this thesis is to depict the remarkable development of the viola as
solo instrument and the expansion of its repertoire by discussing the influence of Lionel
Tertis and William Primrose. Without their contribution, the viola would have definitely
continued its role as "Cinderella" among the string instruments.
Due to Tertis' and Primrose's multifaceted engagement with the instrument, the
viola and its repertoire has continued to gain importance in the musical world.
"THE VIOLA: CINDERELLA NO MORE!" LIONEL TERTIS UND
WILLIAM PRIMROSE ALS PIONIERE DES ZEITGENÖSSISCHEN
VIOLASPIELS.
Die Viola wurde lange Zeit als Soloinstrument stiefmütterlich behandelt. Diese
Auffassung beruhte auf einer Missachtung des Instruments durch Komponisten. Jedoch
stieg mit der Verbesserung der Bauweise des Instruments und der Wiederentdeckung
durch InterpretInnen und KomponistInnen die Popularität der Viola allmählich, aber
stetig an. Die Viola erreichte schließlich den ihr gebührenden Stellenwert sowohl im
Orchester als auch in der Kammermusik. Am Anfang des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts
begannen viele KomponistInnen für die Viola zu schreiben, die von virtuosen Solisten
wie Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), William Primrose (1903 – 1982), und Lionel Tertis
(1896 – 1975) inspiriert wurden.
Zweck dieser Arbeit ist es, die bemerkenswerte Entwicklung der Viola als
Soloinstrument und die Erweiterung ihres Repertoires unter besonderer
Berücksichtigung des Einflusses von Lionel Tertis und William Primrose darzustellen
und zu diskutieren. Ohne deren Beitrag hätte die Viola ihre Rolle als "Cinderella" unter
den Saiteninstrumenten definitiv beibehalten.
Aufgrund des vielfältigen Engagements von Tertis und Primrose für ihr
Instrument, werden die Viola und ihr Repertoire auch weiterhin Bedeutung in der
musikalischen Welt gewinnen.
1
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my gratitude to all of those people who made this thesis
possible, in particular, my advisor, Dr. Ingeborg Harer, for the detailed guidance and
supervision during the completion of this work, and Professor Matthias Maurer, my
viola professor, for his invaluable instruction throughout my studies in viola
performance.
I extend my thanks to all other professors, namely Professor Pedro Muñoz, who
guided me and helped to develop my background and love for the viola.
And I am deeply indebted to my parents, without whose support and
encouragement I would not have been able to complete this work.
I would like also to thank Daniel Turner for the correction of the English text.
2
PREFACE
The gratification of interpretative art
lies
in
the
fulfillment
of
its
immense
responsibilities (Lionel Tertis, My Viola and I,
1991)
It is obvious that developing knowledge about musical theory is an important
way to develop practical performance.
The motivation of this work came largely from our desire to contribute to a
comprehensive digression on the viola repertoire and its historical context in such a
way that we could synthesize the theoretical aspects and insights, which can help
support the practice of performance.
The beginning of the twentieth century witnessed the emergence of two
exceptional figures, Lionel Tertis and William Primrose, whose prominent contribution
to the success of the contemporary viola playing is unquestionable. So, it is only natural
that the present work honors these virtuoso soloists, who surely revolutionized the
concept of the viola as a solo instrument.
“[....] Berlioz described the viola as the "Cinderella of the string family". A
Cinderella, yes, but a Cinderella with a difference. The heroine of the fairy tale was, as
we all know, still quite young when her fortune changed and she came into her rights,
but it was until the end of the nineteenth century, and more particularly the twentieth
century - with the growing library of solo viola music, the fact that many more violas of
the right quality were becoming available and the consequent ever-increasing number
of skilled viola-players - that the viola really began to consolidate its position as a solo
instrument and earn still further it to a place in the sun: ´Cinderella No More!´.”
(Lionel Tertis, My Viola and I, 1991).
It is my hope that this work will be as useful for viola students as it was for me.
It was a pleasure to follow the viola's journey to become a virtuoso and solo instrument.
3
INTRODUCTION
MAIN PURPOSE AND LITERATURE REVIEW
The main purpose of the present thesis is to depict the prominent contribution of
Lionel Tertis and William Primrose to the ascent of the viola as a virtuosic and solo
instrument, substantiated by the expansion of twentieth century viola repertoire.
Although excellent publications provide valuable information about the viola, they
frequently were written from a specific point of the view or are very superficial. This
document takes a broader view of literature for the viola, associating the music for the
viola with specific period practices. Given that most of solo viola literature has been
written in the twentieth century, it is obviously a main motif of our reflection of the
passion of Lionel Tertis and William Primrose by their beloved viola, as well as their
personal styles and concepts of viola playing, which considerably helped to increase the
value of the viola as a solo instrument
The present paper consists of an overview of the viola throughout the most
significant parts of its history to our present time. The Introductory Chapter comprises a
brief history of the use of the viola by composers, and performers, and presents
biographical aspects of Tertis´s and Primrose's life. This will be followed, in Chapter 2,
by an overview of significant transcribed and original pre-twentieth century literature
for the viola. This Chapter also presents the late nineteenth century and early twentieth
century as a turning point in the viola status highlighting the contribution of Lionel
Tertis and William Primrose to the development of the viola's solo role and the
expansion of its repertoire. As a result, this leads to the new trends in the composition
that revolutionized the course of the twentieth century music for viola, presented in
Chapter 3. Chapter 4 will summarize the results of this research.
Violists have always been interested in promoting their instrument. As early as
1866 The American Viola Society began publishing the Journal of the American Viola
Society (JAVS), which has been a source of viola research, publishing several articles
on topics related to the viola, its performance, pedagogy, history and literature
(americanviolasociety.org/journal).
4
The Primrose International Viola Archive (PIVA) holds a big collection of
William Primrose's letters, personal belongings and instruments.
PIVA, housed at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, is the official viola
archive of The International Viola Society and American Viola Society.
For the present research the following main sources were used to trace an
overview of the long way that the viola had to travel to emerge as a respected
instrument in its own right:
The History of the Viola by Maurice Riley (1980), followed by a second volume
in 1991, is the first attempt to an extensive history of the viola: the Italian viola
makers, the viola during the Baroque and Classical era, in countries such as Germany
Austria and France, viola bows, viola teaching methods, literature for viola, musical
examples, important nineteenth century violists, experiments with viola size, the viola
in the twentieth century, biographies of violists.
In the early twentieth century, Lionel Tertis was infinitely important in helping
establish the viola as an instrument worthy of study and substantially increasing the
viola repertoire. Next to him stands William Primrose. Tertis was the writer of a number
of publications about string playing, and his own life.
For the present thesis, the following autobiographical sources were of extreme
relevance:
-My Viola and I (1991), explores in detail Tertis' long career, from his teaching
in Great Britain to his performances and efforts to increase the viola repertoire.
-Walk on the North Side - Memoirs of a Violist by William Primrose (1904) is an
autobiography about Primrose's childhood, his interests besides music, conductors,
colleagues, recordings and teaching.
David Dalton, Playing the Viola - Conversations with Primrose (2003), is a
technical book, useful for players of different levels. It is written in dialogue form with
David Dalton (Primrose's pupil). In this book Primrose talks about various aspects of
viola playing, performance practice, recordings, competitions, as well as insights on the
repertoire for the viola, and on the performances of the great concertos by Bartók and
Walton.
5
Lionel Tertis: The first Great Virtuoso of the Viola (2006) was written by John
White, and explores the life and work of Lionel Tertis. This biography, the first
complete survey of his life, tells how he became the "father of the modern viola." In
this biography is included a vast number of letters written to or by Tertis.
Literatur für Viola, by Franz Zeyringer provides a catalogue that lists works for
viola alone, viola and piano, viola and orchestra, and viola in combination with all sorts
of other instruments. It has undergone several versions, the most recent in 1985.
The music for viola falls under three classifications: transcriptions and
arrangements, borrowed works, and original works. Recently, helpful background
information on these topics have been provided by various theses, such as: Scott
Schilling (2009) -The Importance of Transcriptions for the Modern Viola Performer: A
Complete Transcription of Ysaye's Sonata for Violoncello Solo Op.2; Soo Mi Lee
(2010)-Musical Borrowing in Four Twentieth Century Works for Viola by Hindemith,
Bloch, and Shostakovich; and Dominic DeStefano (2010) -A Guide to the Pedagogy of
Microtonal Intonation in Recent Viola Repertoire.
As this present thesis focuses on Tertis's and Primrose's contribution to
contemporary viola playing, it is only natural that anything written by them provides the
most valuable information. Thus, autobiographical material, letters, and interviews
serve as primary sources to discuss their contribution to promote the viola as a solo
instrument as well as to depict the differences and similarities of their underlying viola
music philosophies.
6
1.2. THE VIOLA: A BRIEF HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Similar to the violin, although a bit bigger, the viola is included regularly in the
symphonic orchestra and chamber music. The larger size of the viola, in relation to the
violin, allows the use of longer and heavier strings resulting in a lowering of the pitch.
Most people think of the viola as just a big violin, however the viola possesses an
exceptional tone color; it combines the depth and resonance of the violoncello with the
tenderness of the lower strings of the violin.
Iconographic and documentary evidence indicate that the violin, viola and cello,
probably evolved together as a family of instruments very early in the sixteenth century,
in northern Italy.1 Although the viola is one of the oldest members of the string family,
it only began to assume a prominent contribution to chamber music and as a solo
instrument in the latter half of the twentieth century.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth century string ensemble music included
multiple viola parts, generally consisting of two or three violas. To play these different
parts, different sized violas were used: a large tenor viola for the lower parts, and a
small alto viola for the upper parts. The large tenor violas were unwieldy, some with
body lengths of 47-48 centimeters. Today, a very large viola is considered anything
over 43 centimeters, with anything over 45 centimeters being considered as unplayable.
Most violists have instruments between 40 and 42 centimeters. This size is considered
to be the maximum length to be comfortably playable, but the minimum length to give
a satisfactory sound. The small alto violas, which were the ones that survived beyond
the seventeenth century, were too small to produce a good sound. A rich resonance and
tone quality are increasingly difficult to achieve, the smaller the viola becomes. Unlike
the other bowed strings, there has never been a standard sized viola.2
The viola of the early 18th century was not the instrument of today but rather it
is the viola pomposa (a 5-stringed instrument of baroque origin similar to the traditional
orchestral viola, with an additional high E string) employed by Johann Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750), one of the most representative personalities of the Baroque period. His
1
David BOYDEN / Ann WOODWARD, Viola, in: Stanley SADIE / John TYRREL (ed.), The New
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 26, New York 2001, P. 687-95.
2
Molly GEBRIAN, Rethinking Viola Pedagogy: Preparing violists for the challenges of twentieth –
century music. Doctoral Dissertation, Rice University. Houston, TX 2012 (the survey referring to the title
above was mainly drawn from this publication).
7
appreciation for the viola was extremely evident in his cantatas. He treated the viola as
a legitimate member of his orchestra, and when he performed in chamber music, he
usually played the viola part so he could be “in the middle of the harmony.” However,
he gives it a more preponderant place in his Sixth Brandenburg Concerto, employing
two violas and two violas da gamba and in his Third Brandenburg Concerto in which
three violas are used.
Bach completed, in 1721, the Brandenburg Concertos, a set of six concertos for
chamber orchestra. In the Sixth Concerto, Bach excluded the violins from the ensemble
and gave the violas the leading part. Without violins Bach explores, in this concerto,
the lower sonorities, giving the main parts to the violas and cellos and leaving the
accompaniment for the violas da gamba. Bach's Bandenburg Concerts (BMW. 10461051) are indisputable examples of the art of the Baroque composition, using solo
instruments in a more intricate and virtuoso fashion than before. It would become a
reference mark of Baroque music and still has the power to move and delight people
today. The peculiarity of this set of concertos lies on the abandonment of the general
concept of concerto grosso (in which a group of soloists play together with a small
orchestra) and in the requirement of a different combination of instruments, as well as
some highly skilled soloists. Bach gave solo opportunities to different instrumental
families and created unusual combinations, like inclusion of violas and violas da gamba
(in No. 6) or the use of harpsichord (in No. 5). The concerto grosso form was pioneered
by Italian composers like, Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713), but Bach's Brandenburg
Concertos took this form to higher values.3
In the eighteenth century, with the establishment of the string quartet by Joseph
Haydn (1738-1809), the viola began receiving more recognition from composers.
Mozart and Haydn, in their quartets, composed independent and compelling viola parts,
sporadically giving it solo lines. Mozart preferred to play the viola in chamber music
and wrote some of the first masterpieces that highlight the viola. With his incomparable
Sinfonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E-flat major, K.364, the
importance of the viola was unquestionably confirmed.
In 1779, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) concluded his Sinfonia
Concertante with a demanding solo viola part, most likely written for himself. Thus, he
3
Donald GROUT/Claude PALISCA, A History of Western Music, 2ª ed., Gradiva, Lisboa 2001.
8
endeavored to ensure that it would make a brilliant effect. The Sinfonia Concertante
was the Classical period's successor to the Baroque concerto grosso, with clearer soloist
roles for the specified instruments. This genre, that became popular in the late 18th
century when concerts began moving into public concert halls, incorporates elements of
both the symphony and concerto, and it is generally scored for two or more solo
instruments and orchestra, exploring new instrumental sound and possibilities. Mozart
wrote unusually virtuosic parts for both the violin and the viola, and he employed a
common Baroque technique to help the violist amplify over the solo violinist and the
orchestra. This device, known as scordatura, requires the string player to manipulate the
strings to sound a particular interval higher or lower. In Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante,
the solo violinist and the orchestra play in the key of the piece (E-flat major), and the
solo violist plays in an easier key on open strings (D major), producing a more facile
execution of passagework and a brighter timbre. The intention is to give, the usually
more reserved, viola a certain resonance to offset the violin's sonority, creating a
remarkable partnership and equality shared by both soloists. Mozart treats both solo
strings like singers in an opera scene. The viola shines together with the violin in
difficult places, such as scales and arpeggiated passages, the double stops, and in the
wonderful register, as high as 8th position.
Very few concertos were written for the viola, before the twentieth century, that
have become part of the viola repertoire, even during the Romantic period when
virtuoso concertos were the favorite form for the exhibition of the technical capabilities
of the instruments and the virtuoso technique of the players. Some exceptions include:
Georg Philipp Telemann´s (1681-1767) Viola Concerto in G major (1716); Carl
Stamitz's (1745-1801) Viola Concerto in D major (Op.1), 1774; W. A. Mozart's Sinfonia
Concertante (1780); Franz Anton Hoffmeister's (1754-1812) Viola Concerto in D major
(1778); Carl Friedrich Zelter's (1758-1832) Viola Concerto in E flat major (1779);
George Friedrich Handel's (1685-1759) /Henry-Gustave Casadesus's (1879-1947)
Viola Concerto in B minor.
The nineteenth century repertoire for viola presented new acoustical demands on
the instrument as well as technical challenges for the players, and many violists and
instrument makers conducted experiments to improve the viola construction. In this
century, composers like Hector Berlioz (1803-1869), Robert Schumann (1810-1856),
9
Richard Wagner (1813-1883), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Richard Strauss
(1864-1949) started to explore the possibilities of the viola, appreciating it as a soloist
instrument.
Berlioz, who was primarily a symphonic composer, wrote Harold in Italy, a
symphony with viola obligato, where the viola is the solo instrument and presents the
main character Harold. The soloist has to compete against an orchestra and needs to
give a volume and sound projection of a protagonist. This piece has an equivalent
position, in the literature for viola, as the Sinfonia Concertante by Mozart, being both
considered as the most important, and most played, works for viola and orchestra pretwentieth century.
Märchenbilder fur Klavier und Viola Op.113 (Fairy Tale Pictures) written by
Robert Schumann in 1851, consists of four fantasy pieces and is an original
composition featuring the viola, where the Romantic spirit is very prominent, as it is
Schuman`s ability to evoke atmospheres and impressions which can transcend musical
tunes. The fairyland images transport the listener to a magical childlike realm and a
dreamlike world.
Richard Wagner used solo viola in his opera Tristan and Isolde, composed
between 1857 and 1859. From a musical point of view, this work marks a turning point
in Wagner´s work and in the history of music as a whole. Wagner uses in Tristan and
Isolde a unique spectrum of orchestral color and harmony being of immense
significance in the move away from the conventional tonal harmony, influencing the
Classical music of the twentieth century.
Richard Strauss (1864-1949) also used the viola as a solo instrument
representing Sancho Panza in Don Quixote and in solos of many orchestral symphony
works. Don Quixote is frequently requested in principal viola orchestral auditions as a
test of technique, musicianship and artistic creativity. The solo violist must project the
character of Sancho Panza, who serves as a comic sidekick to the dreamer Don Quixote.
We also must not forget to refer to other works of the traditional repertoire of
this time like Johann Nepomuk Hummel's (1778-1837) Viola Sonata in E-flat major
and Fantasy for Viola and Orchestra; Felix Mendelssohn's (1809-1847) Viola Sonata
in C minor and Max Reger's (1873-1916) Three Suites for solo Viola (Op.131). The
compositions of Max Reger prolonged the Romantic period until the twentieth century.
10
However, before the twentieth century, many arrangements and transcriptions
seemed to be the most efficient way to expand the viola literature, thus filling a large
gap in the viola repertoire.
The twentieth century was the turning point for the viola. Continued experiments
on the viola's design and exceptional soloist performances increased its value and, as a
consequence, the interest of composers. Most of the viola concertos were composed in
this period, and with the efforts of virtuosos like Lionel Tertis (1876-1975), Paul
Hindemith (1895-1963) and William Primrose (1903-1982) the viola became an
instrument of high reputation with suitable repertoire. Some of these works include
Hindemith´s fourteen Viola Pieces and the Viola Concertos by William Walton (19021983), Béla Bartók (1881-1945), Walter Piston (1894-1976) and Alfred Schnittke
(1934-1998) and the Viola Sonatas by Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), Dimitri
Shostakovich (1906-1971) and Arnold Bax (1883-1953).
Serge Collot (b.1923) and Maurice Vieux (1884-1951), considered notable
successors of Tertis, Hindemith and Primrose, also deserve being particularly
mentioned, because they greatly contributed to the expansion of violistic repertoire.
In the third quarter of the twentieth century, the Russian violist Yuri Bashmet (b.
1953) emerged as a major proponent of the viola. His exuberant interpretations and his
marvelous technique has inspired many composers to write music for him, including
Schnittke, Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931), John Tavener (1944-2013), Giya Kancheli
(b.1935), Krzysztof Penderecki (b.1933) and many others.
Other internationally renowned viola soloists such as Rudolf Barshai, Kim
Kashkashian, Nabuko Imai, Paul Neubauer, Gérard Caussé, Michael Kugel, Tabea
Zimmerman, and their exceptional performances, have significantly contributed to
promote the viola as a solo instrument as well as to enrich the viola repertoire.
11
1.3. LIONEL TERTIS AND WILLIAM PRIMROSE: BIOGRAPHICAL AND
HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Lionel Tertis and William Primrose made the viola a noble and imposing
instrument for public performances of solo and chamber music. They helped raise the
status of the viola as a solo instrument and were responsible for many new works which
are now firmly settled in the viola literature.
It is mostly due to the efforts of the British violist Lionel Tertis that the viola
came to be regarded as a worthy solo instrument. He not only expanded its repertoire,
but also promoted a construction of a new viola model (the Tertis Model), and created a
philosophy underlying the role of the viola in solo repertoire.
A son of Eastern European Jews, Tertis was born on December 29, 1876 in
London. He started studying the piano when he was still young, and by the young age of
six, he was already performing. Not very impressed with the piano, Tertis decided early
to change to the violin. At the age of sixteen, Tertis entered Trinity College of Music in
London as a violin student, and later (1895) continued his violin studies at the Royal
Academy of Music with Hans Wessely (1862-1926).
At the age of nineteen, persuaded by a colleague, Tertis began playing the viola:
"When I reached the age of nineteen a fellow violin student came to me with the
suggestion that I should take up the viola. He wanted to form a string quartet,
and there was not one viola student at the Academy! So casual was my discovery
of my mission in life, of that beautiful, soon-to-be-loved viola, to which I was to
devote the rest of my days."4
At that time, by the end of the nineteenth century, the viola did not enjoy a high
reputation anywhere in the world, and in his autobiography Tertis describes its status in
the music world:
"The consensus of opinion then was that the viola had no right to be heard in
solos, indeed the consideration of its place in the string family was of the
scantiest. It was not only a despised instrument, but its cause was far from
4
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, London 1991, P. 15.
12
helped by the down-and-out violinists who played it [….]. A wretchedly low
standard of viola-playing was in fact accepted simply and solely because there
was no alternative."5
Tertis chose to teach himself the viola as his teacher, Hans Wessely, was
apparently incapable doing so:
"Thenceforward I worked hard and, being dissatisfied with my teacher - who
knew nothing about the idiosyncrasies of the viola, nor indeed was there any
pedagogue worthy of its name to go for guidance - I resolved to continue my
study by myself. I consider that I learnt to play principally through listening to
virtuosi; I lost no opportunity of attending concerts to hear great artists perform.
I especially remember hearing Sarasate. At the old St. Jame's hall playing the
Mendelssohn concerto most marvelously - every note a pearl."6
The viola distinct and attractive quality of tone was what captivated Tertis:
"In 1897 a fellow student lent me a Guadagnini viola. It had, alas been cut down
in size as usual, but the tone was far better than that of the Academy instrument,
and from that moment I became more than ever an enthusiast, resolved that my
life´s work should be the establishment of the viola's rights as a solo
instrument."7
At the Royal Academy of Music, Lionel Tertis played on a large viola (44.5 cm)
to obtain a rich and resonant C-string tone without the nasal quality of many smaller
instruments. He had a unique approach to the instrument, focusing on a particular
concept of sound, tone color, concentrated listening, continuous vibrato and discreet
portamento. Tertis experimented with different viola sizes in search for the perfect Cstring sonority and came to the conclusion that a viola, to be resonant enough, needed to
be large, but also must have a suitable shape, making it easy to handle and play. To
achieve this objective Tertis collaborated with the English instrument maker Arthur
Richardson on a design for a large viola that would achieve his desired depth of tone.
5
Ibid., P.16.
Ibid., P.16.
7
Ibid., P.17.
6
13
Tertis proposed 16 ¾ inches (42.5 cm) as the ideal body length for a minimum of
satisfactory sonority. The result of Tertis' collaboration with Richardson, was the
“Tertis viola.” His ideal of a standard viola with proper viola size and shape contributed
in many ways, to general views on making and playing this instrument.
In 1901, Tertis was appointed to be a viola professor at the Royal Academy of
Music. After having left the Royal Academy of Music as a student in 1988, he obtained
a violinist position in the Henry Wood`s Queen's Hall Orchestra, soon after becoming
the principal viola of the same orchestra, a position he occupied until 1904. A crisis in
the orchestra led Tetris to give up his orchestral playing life to devote himself to a solo
career. However, he remained a professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London,
where some of his students included Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979).
During the years 1914-1918, Tertis was called upon for military service. At this
time, he met the violinist Eugène Ysaÿe (1858-1931), with whom he performed
Mozart`s Sinfonia Concertante at the Queen`s Hall in 1916. In 1922, in the United
States, Tertis gave his first tour as a viola soloist.
Many viola solo works were written for Tertis during his long lifetime (he died
at 99). He also transcribed, edited, commissioned, and premiered several works during
his career as can be read in the next chapter. In 1937, he announced his retirement from
the concert platform to concentrate on teaching, only performing in special occasions,
the last when he was 87. In 1980, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition was
established to honour his memory.
Lionel Tertis, devoted himself to the development of the viola as a solo
instrument. His arrangements, fingering indications, and recordings convey detailed
information about his musical concepts and technical ideas which he described in his
1938 treatise “The Beauty of Tone in String Playing”.8
Tertis's legacy to violists covers all performance-related areas: technique,
teaching, and expansion of the viola's repertoire. About Tertis's work and his legacy
William Primrose wrote:
"Tertis was an indomitable man. He initiated all this viola business and set the
string world on its ear. He was the first person to attempt to persuade the public
at large to listen to the viola as a solo instrument […]. He knew very well that he
8
Lionel TERTIS, The Beauty of Tone in String Player, Oxford 1938.
14
was not going to get anywhere in his crusade unless he stormed and battered the
citadel of apathy that held violists and the instrument in the deepest dungeon of
low esteem and regard. And storm and batter he did! It was a heroic battle. For
those of us who followed in his train, our task was rendered all the more easy
and rewarding because of him. He was the first to insist that the viola was an
instrument distinct from other string instruments, that it had a personality of its
own."9
Primrose is often compared to Lionel Tertis, but this comparison was always
rejected by Primrose. He regarded Tertis' style as distinct and nothing like his own
because Primrose considered his style to be more naturally traced pedagogically. In
addition to performing, Primrose taught at summer schools and in various institutions
where he held teaching posts. He also wrote or contributed to important didactic
publications, such as Playing the Viola (1988), Technique is Memory (1960), Violin and
Viola (with Yehudi Menhuin, 1976), and Art and Practice of Scale Playing (1954).
Throughout the world, William Primrose was acknowledged as one of the most
notable violist of the twentieth century. He was born on August 23, 1904 in Glasgow
and was a violin prodigy. As his father was an orchestral violinist and violist and a
violin teacher, he started his son's lessons early, at the age of four, with Camilo Ritter
(1875-1940), an Austrian violinist. William Primrose spent hours listening to the
Scottish Orchestra and attending performances by Enrico Caruso, as well as those by
leading violinists, including Eugène Ysaÿe, Rafael Kubelik (1914-1916), Mischa Elman
(1891-1967), Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) and Joseph Szigeti (1892-1973). At the age of
fifteen, Primrose was accepted at the Guildhall School of Music, and he moved,
together with his family, to London. His debut concert was at Queen`s Hall in 1923,
performing Lalo's Symphoñie Espagnole and Elgar's Violin Concert. Although
Primrose achieved success on the violin, he found that he preferred the sound of the
viola to the violin. Primrose was greatly influenced by Tertis in his determination to
play the viola instead of the violin. He had always felt affection for the viola, but it was
Tertis's huge, warm tone that showed him its potential. He told Tertis: I am a disciple of
9
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, Provo 1978, P. 163.
15
yours from henceforth.10 Encouraged by Ysaÿe, Primrose switched from violin to viola
in 1930:
"Sensing the need for study with an artist of international reputation,
[Primrose] enrolled for private study with Eugene Ysaÿe in 1926[…..]. While at
Ysaÿe's home, Primrose frequently played the viola in string quartets and
ensembles. Recognizing Primrose's unique aptitude for the instrument, Ysaÿe
encouraged him to pursue a career as a violist."11
In his memoires, Walk on the North Side, Primrose describes the move to the
viola as a life-changing experience. He wrote: "I had become a violist full-fledge. I had
burned all my bridges. I had walked the Damascus Road, seen the light, repented of
past transgressions and turned to the viola."12
In 1928, Primrose played the Sinfonia Concertante, at the Mozart Festival in
Paris, with Tertis. This performance, with the Lamoreux Orchestra under Sir Thomas
Beecham, was the decisive event in Primrose's career. However, it must be noted that
subsequently, he would leave the connection with Tertis, because of their discordance
on viola tone and vibrato, as well as the ideal size of the instrument.
In 1930, Primrose was appointed violist of the London String Quartet and, with
this quartet, he toured for the next five years. The group dissolved in 1935. For the next
two years, Primrose performed in various countries, playing the viola from La Scala to
Berlin. In 1936, there was a memorable performance of the Walton Concerto with the
Royal Philharmonic Society in London. In 1937, he became member of the famous NBC
Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, in the United States. While a
member of this orchestra, he founded the Primrose Quartet for broadcasting
performances. As a member of this Quartet, he felt the pleasure of how each member
played the viola in a virtuoso way, also promoting the viola virtuosity as is usual with
the violins. In his Walk on the North Side, Primrose said: "As a violist, I have sometimes
heard that this is a downright thankless job. I must say that if this is a thankless job it is
10
Ibid., P.102.
Maurice RILEY, The History of the Viola, Vol.1, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1980, P. 98.
12
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side, P. 62.
11
16
very often the fault of a thankless music. Playing the viola gave me much more pleasure
than I ever had playing the violin."13
Among Primrose's many recordings are collaborations with Jascha Heifetz,
Gregor Piatigorsky and Arthur Rubinstein. Deciding to pursue a career as a concert
violist, Primrose abdicated from the orchestra in 1942, and as a soloist, he performed
throughout America and Europe, always under the leading conductors of the time.
Primrose's career as a soloist started to take off, and he emerged as the world's foremost
viola virtuoso. By the conclusion of World War II, Primrose gained a reputation that
placed him among the greatest violists of his day.
For his services to music, he was named Commander of the British Empire in
1953. For many years, he taught at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. He also
was associated with the Aspen Music Festival and formed the Festival Quartet (19551962). In 1962, he joined the music faculty of the University of California in Los
Angeles, to teach viola and chamber music.
After suffering a heart attack in 1963, Primrose concentrated on teaching,
beginning at Indiana University (1965-72), and later, at the Tokyo National University
of Fine Arts and Music (1972).
In 1974, he donated his collection of scores and memorabilis to Brigham Young
University, establishing the Primrose International Viola Archive as a resource center
for students, violists and scholars. At the time of his death in 1982, he was teaching at
Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. He kept busy until the very end.
In 1978, Primrose published his memoirs, Walk on the North Side:
"Quite often as I have been recounting, upon request, some of the incidents
contained in the following pages, someone has commented, 'You must put this in
writing'. I finally decided to do just that- to write down for the public many of
the interesting and true stories of my career as a violist and also some of my
personal philosophy of performing and teaching. This book is the result."14
13
14
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 77.
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. XII.
17
Before Primrose`s death, his friend and former student, David Dalton, quoted
Primrose in a series of conversations, which addresses the most essential aspects of
viola technique, performance, repertoire, recording and history. The book Playing the
Viola: Conversations with Primrose15 is a transcription of this dialogue, containing
advice with respect to holding the viola, bowing, tone, fingering, and practicing, all
supported by illustrations and musical examples, as well as insights on the repertoire
for the viola and on performances of the great concertos by Bartók and Walton.
One of Primrose's great missions was the expansion of the viola literature.
William Primrose enriched the viola literature through his arrangements, transcriptions,
and editions, and he inspired, as well as commissioned, original compositions by
leading contemporary composers as will be described in the next chapter.
Although these two violists had a great admiration for each other, they also had
very different opinions concerning specific aspects of the viola and style. Primrose
considered Tertis' style to be very distinctive and individualistic making it very difficult
to imitate. Primrose writes in his autobiography: "I don`t really owe anything to Tertis
so far as my personal style of playing is concerned. While he had some good students, I
don`t know any violist who, as a player, owes anything to Lionel directly."16
Tertis' new viola model, was considered by Primrose a definite step in the right
direction. Primrose helped promote violas with this model by playing them in a concert
organized by Tertis at the Wigmore Hall, in 1950. After this concert, Primrose didn’t
use the “Tertis model violas” in his performances but still tried to promote them.
They had a very different system of fingerings and concept of sounds. Primrose
considered, in the early years, many of Tertis fingerings bizarre, even though they
worked well for Tertis. Later in his life, Primrose realized his opinion about Tertis´
fingerings:
"A cursory examination of Tertis editions in my salad days prompted me to
downgrade them in what I later came to be aware as downright arrogance on
my part. In some instances, I thought his fingerings were bizarre, but they were
15
16
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose. Oxford 1988.
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. 164-165.
18
well suited to his quiddity, his nonconformity. A conclusion that this doughty
pioneer and innovative practitioner knew what he was after. While I might not
agree in the final judgment sensed that he had arrived at a system of fingering
that evoked the sonorities and the rather exclusive beauties of the viola as
distinct from the violin. From this I drew my own conclusions and evolved my
own ideas along the same lines."17
Primrose had a preference for old instruments with a more mezzo quality of
timbre instead of contralto. He considered his Andrea Guarneri was more suited for
him: "Tertis couldn´t forgive the fact that I had given up using a contemporary
instrument. He believed these are the only instruments worth playing. Still more to his
annoyance, I was using gut instead of metal strings."18
Tertis considered metal strings an extremely important element for the sound of
the viola. Influenced by him, Primrose used metal strings for a long time, but much to
Tertis disappointment, changed to gut strings, influenced by his chamber music
colleague Heifetz.
Tertis' idea of perfect viola timbre was very different from Primrose. Tertis
enjoyed the contralto timbre of the big Gasparo de Saló and Montagnana violas.
Playing such big sized violas caused some of Tertis health problems. The big size of
Tertis' violas were also a subject of disagreement between the two violists, as we can
verify in the following statement by William Primrose: "The viola is difficult enough
without having to indulge in a wrestling match with it."19
17
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, P.114.
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P.166.
19
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virttuoso of the Viola, Woodbridge 2006, P. 211.
18
19
2. PRE-TWENTIETH CENTURY VIOLA LITERATURE
2.1. VIOLA TRANSCRIPTIONS AND ARRANGEMENTS
2.1.1. THE TRANSCRIPTION PROCESS
Transcribing music for different instruments has been a common practice for
many centuries. Many outstanding composers enlarged the music repertoire with their
arrangements and transcriptions. J.S.Bach transcribed a lot of works of Antonio Vivaldi
(1678-1741), such as the Vivaldi Concertos (six for solo harpsichord and three for solo
organ). Moreover, most of the Harpsichord Concertos are arrangements of
compositions by Bach or other composers. Jean Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) also
transcribed for harpsichord (segments of his opera-ballet Les Indes Gallantes), and
Beethoven transcribed for piano and orchestra (Violin Concerto). Franz Liszt (18111886) transcribed many of Franz Schubert (1797-1828) Lieder for piano, Paganini
Études, Bach works for organ, the nine Beethoven Symphonies, and even created a
piano and viola version of Harold in Italy.
In the twentieth century there are the particularly notorious orchestral
transcriptions of Beethoven and Brahms chamber music works by Arnold Schoenberg
(1874-1951). Some other well-known examples included Ravel's (1875-1937)
orchestral version of Pictures at an Exhibition from Moussorgsky's piano piece, and
Webern's (1883-1945) orchestral arrangement of Musical Offering from Bach´s organ
work.
Transcribed music also played an important role in the development of viola
literature as a possible solution to improve the lack of viola repertoire before the
twentieth century.
A viola transcription requires the maintenance of the viola's idiomatic sound,
and a composition should not be transcribed if the original piece cannot be reproduced
within the technical limits of the viola. Most transcriptions for the viola have been taken
from music for violin or cello because of similarities in tone quality and similar
techniques to express music. However, not every piece for violin or cello is appropriate
to perform on the viola. Despite the evolution of the viola construction and the technical
20
improvements of the violists, the viola still cannot recreate some characteristics of other
instruments, such as the violin`s brilliance, up-bow staccato, and chains of double stops
in tenths.20
Some of the differences between violin and viola should be taken in
consideration before transcribing works from the violin literature. The size of the viola
is the first thing to be taken in consideration; the body of the viola is bigger, larger, and
heavier, and as a consequence, the violists need more flexible physical conditions to
play it comfortably. The viola has longer and fatter strings that respond slower than the
violin and also require more finger pressure from the left hand. The violists have to use
more pressure on the bow with the right hand to produce a sound with quality and,
frequently, need to stretch the left hand fingers to play phrases on the same string,
causing excessive tension on the hand.
Generally, there are two ways of transcribing violin works to the viola; one is to
maintain most passages on the original registry, moving only a few phrases one octave
lower; the other is to move the entire piece to another key, usually a fifth down or a
fourth up from the original key. In the case of the cello and viola, other questions such
as the comfort and playability are important. The first step in transcribing a work from
cello to viola is octave displacement. Because the strings of the cello and viola are just
an octave apart, it is easier to bring the cello part up an octave to fit into the range of the
viola. Sometimes, it may even be possible to maintain the same range in the
transcription with a clef change.21 Other transcribed music for viola comes from
instruments such as the clarinet, bassoon, or French horn, due to the similarities in
timbre.
It is crucial to note that when we perform any transcription, the purpose is to
play the music in such way that the qualities of the viola and the character of the
original work are preserved, instead of making the viola sound like a violin or a cello.
20
Soo Mi LEE, Musical Borrowing in Four Twentieth-Century Works for Viola by Hindemith, Bloch,
Bacewicz, and Shostakovich. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, USA 2010.
21
Scott SCHILLING, The importance of Transcriptions for the Modern Viola Performer: A Complete
Transcription of Ysaye's Sonata for Violoncello Solo Op. 28. Doctoral Dissertation, University of
Cincinnati, USA 2009.
21
2.1.2. COMPOSERS AND LITERATURE TRANSCRIBED
Among the successful transcriptions of solo string music are the solo works for
violin and cello of J. S. Bach, transcribed for the viola, and Paganini´s 24 Caprices for
violin transcribed for solo viola. Other Romantic pieces in viola repertoire were not
originally written for the viola: Beethoven´s Noturno, Op. 42; Schubert's Arpeggione
Sonata, and the Two Sonatas by Brahms.
J. S. Bach, was one the first composers to use the art of transcription.22 The
Sonata for Clavier and Viola da Gamba No. 1 in G, BWV 1027, was originally written
for two flutes (BWV 1039). Since the viola da gamba is not frequently used, nowadays,
it is many times substituted by the viola.
The most often used transcriptions from the cello are the editions for the viola
of the J. S. Bach`s Six Suites for Solo Violoncello, functioning as works for the concert
stage and as pedagogic tools for technique. It is not known when, why, whom, and for
which instrument the Bach`s Six Suites were composed, but they were probably
composed during the period of 1717-1723. The organization of the cello suites seems to
argue that they may have been written after the much more organized Violin Sonatas
and Partitas, but it is not sure. There are multiple editions of this work arranged for the
viola. The explanation for these various editions is that there is no manuscript of the
suites, but two contradictory copies by Anna Magdalena Bach and by Johann Peter
Kellner. Some of these editions are performance editions (already performed by Watson
Forbes, Milton Katims, and William Primrose) and are focused on the musical ideas that
the individual performer uses in his own performance.
Examples of transcriptions from violin to viola are also the Bach´s Six Sonatas
and Partitas for Solo Violin. They are among the most difficult, original solo works
written for the violin. Their technical challenges, especially the persistent use of
multiple stops, are virtuoso features resulting of the complexity of Bach`s musical ideas.
The Chaconne (series of variations on a repeated harmonic pattern) from the Partita No.
2 in D minor (BWV 1004) is an example of the more difficult demands on the
performer`s technical abilities.
The transcriptions of the cello suites work very well on the viola, especially the
first five suites. The Sonatas and Partitas are less successful on the viola.
22
Paul LESLIE, Bach as Transcriber, in: Music & Letters, XXXIV/IV (1953), P. 306-313.
22
Among the transcriptions for viola are also the famous Bach's Concerto For
Two Violins (BWV 1043) and Concerto For Violin and Oboe (BWV 1060), both
transcribed for violin and viola by Lionel Tertis.
Another example of solo transcriptions is Paganinni's Caprices for violin
transcribed for solo viola. They have become requirements for advanced viola study,
and they are excellent pedagogic tools but only a portion of the 24 pieces are suitable to
perform on the viola, due to the difficulty to overcome, not only the technical problems,
but also the restrictions of the instrument; the larger size of the viola becomes
problematic when double stops greater than an octave are used (ex: Caprice No. 4).
There is also the problem of fingered octaves (ex: Caprice No. 23), depending on the
size of the viola and the hands of the violist.23 Violists such as William Primrose can
demonstrate their virtuosity with these pieces but they cannot be played by most
violists.
Inspired by the famous clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld (1856-1907) other
successful works are the Two Sonatas for clarinet (or viola) and piano by Johannes
Brahms. All his compositions with clarinet were dedicated to this clarinetist. In addition
to his compositions written originally for the viola, Brahms transcribed several of his
wind instrument parts for viola. He uses it as an alternative to the clarinet in his two
Sonatas for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 120 (No.1 in F major and No. 2 in Eb major). It
can also be used in place of the clarinet in his Trio for Piano, Clarinet, and Violoncello
and in his Clarinet Quintet, and sometimes, it substitutes the horn in his Horn Trio, Op.
40.
While many transcribed works for viola were arranged by other composers or
violists, Brahms transcribed the sonatas for the viola, himself. The two Sonatas for
Clarinet and Piano were completed in 1894 and later transcribed for viola by Brahms,
and published, in 1895, under the title: Zwei Sonaten für Klarinette (oder Bratsche) und
Pianoforte von Johannes Brahms Op.120 Nr.1 F moll, Nr.2 Es Dur. The same piano part
is used for the clarinet and viola versions, but instead of simply transcribing the clarinet
part, double stops and new passages were added, and the registers of several sections
23
Scott SCHILLING, The importance of Transcriptions for the Modern Viola Performer: A Complete
Transcription of Ysaye's Sonata for Violoncello Solo Op. 28. Doctoral Dissertation, University of
Cincinnati, USA 2009.
23
were changed to make them more idiomatic towards the viola. Nowadays, there are
many editions of the Brahms Sonatas, arranged for viola. The main differences of these
editions are the changes of articulations made by the editors, which allow the
performers to choose their favorite version. Most of the editions played today were not
arranged by Brahms, because modern violists are more developed in their skills and can
play versions more similar to those for clarinet; the best version is attributed to Milton
Katims.
Like Brahms, and probably under his influence, the German composer Max
Reger transcribed some of his clarinet compositions for viola, like the Sonate B-dur
Op. 107. This work is an important part of the viola repertoire, chosen as a required
repertoire for international competitions. Reger wrote three Sonatas for Clarinet and
Piano; the first two (Op. 49) were written in 1900. The Sonata B-Dur Op. 107 was the
last, completed in 1909. Later, the composer transcribed two versions of Op. 107, one
for violin and the other for viola. There is also a Reger's arrangement for a four hands
piano duet.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) did not leave original solo works for the
viola; however, it assumed an important role in his chamber music. The Noturno in D
major for Viola and Piano Op. 42 is an arrangement of an earlier work, the Serenade in
D major for Violin and Piano Op. 8. In a letter to the Leipzig publisher, Beethoven
wrote:
“The
transcriptions are not my own but I have looked through them and in
places I improved them. Therefore I am not willing to have you state that I made them,
for that would be lie and besides, I could find neither the time not the patience for such
work.”24
Beethoven was not satisfied with this arrangement, and it disappeared from the
publisher`s catalogues after 1890, returning to the viola repertoire in the twentieth
century with a transcription made by Sydney Beck.
Lionel Tertis also made arrangements for viola of Beethoven`s Variations on a
Mozart's theme, Op.66, and the Sonata for Viola and Piano in G minor Op.5, No.2,
originally for cello and piano.
24
Quoted according to: Henry BARRET, The Viola: Complete Guide for Teachers and Students,
Tuscalosa 1978, P. 2.
24
Franz Schubert`s Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano, D.821 was one of the first
works ever written for the arpeggione, an instrument invented by the craftsman Johann
Stauffer in 1823. The arpeggione is a six stringed instrument that combines elements of
both the cello and the guitar. This instrument had a short period of popularity after its
invention, but ten years later it was forgotten, and then recovered at the end of the
twentieth century. Schubert's Sonata exists today, mostly in the form of transcriptions.
Among stringed instruments, the viola incorporates the piece into its
repertoire.
Transcriptions for the cello, double bass, flute, clarinet and guitar were also made.
Henry Vieuxtemps (1820-1881) was a Belgian composer and one of the best
violinists of the nineteenth century after Paganinni. Often compared to Paganinni,
Vieuxtemps was distinguished by his extraordinary technique and innovations in
performance style. However, he always considered technique to be subordinate to
emotional content. Known for his mastery of the bow, Vieuxtemps's playing was
perfectionist and graceful, qualities that derive from smooth right-hand and right-arm
technique. He is the author of several compositions that have become part of the
standard repertoire for violinists. Vieuxtemps also wrote pieces for viola and transcribed
works that contributed to the viola repertoire; one of these, the Capriccio for Viola Solo
Op. 55, a virtuoso work originally for violin, was published posthumously (Op. 9
posthumous) and was written as an homage to the violin caprices of Nicolo Paganinni;
this composition is in C minor, and the character and technical requirements of the piece
require a high level of musical maturity for a successful performance. Besides arranging
his own works, Vieuxtemps also transcribed pieces of other composers. Examples
include the Op.108 Sonata for Viola and Piano which is a transcription of Mozart`s
K.581 Clarinet Quintet.
The arrangement of Bach`s Fantasia Chromatica for viola solo by the composer
Zoltán Kodály (1882-1967) is a challenging piece in the viola literature. This Hungarian
composer is remembered for his contributions to the
ethnomusicology and music
education and for his own musical works. Bach`s Chromatic Fantasy in D minor was
originally written for keyboard becoming, with its melodic contours and intense
technical demands, a favorite piece of Romantic piano virtuosos. The arrangement for
viola, transcribed from the piano part by Kodály and edited by William Primrose, also
shows the viola as a virtuosic instrument with its powerful chords filling the melody.
25
The arpegiatted passages are a realization of chords in the harpsichord score, giving the
work a resemblance to the Paganinni Caprices. Violists need a solid technique to be
able to play this work that has become a selected repertoire in important performances
such as the Lionel Tertis Viola Competition.
Lionel Tertis and William Primrose were the most prolific viola
transcribers/arrangers. They transcribed works from many different instruments and
times. Some of their transcriptions and arrangements are often performed today while
others were forgotten.
Among the huge list of arrangements and transcriptions (referred on the next
chapter) made by Tertis and Primrose, we find important works such as, respectively:
César Franck (1822-1890) Sonata for Viola and Piano; Claude Debussy (18621918) Minstrels for Viola and Piano; Frederick Delius (1862-1934) Sonata No.1 and
No. 2 for Viola and Piano; Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924) Après un Rêve Op.7 for Viola
and Piano; Henry Eccles (1670-1742) Sonata for Viola and Piano; John Ireland
(1879-1962) Sonata for Viola and Piano; Mendelssohn Concerto for Viola and
Orchestra, and: Efrem Zimbalist (1889-1985) Sarasateana; Villa-Lobos (1887-1959)
Aria from 'Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5'.
26
2.2. ORIGINAL WORKS FOR VIOLA25
The viola was gradually accepted by composers and conductors, as an
instrument that deserves performance opportunities, but, as mentioned before, until the
twentieth century the viola did not become highly considered as a solo instrument.
Because of the viola's acoustical shortcomings and its tessitura, the viola in orchestra or
chamber music traditionally provides the middle voices of the harmony, and if it was
given a melodic part it was in unison with the melody played by another string
instrument.
Because of the restricted role of the viola as a solo instrument, there are few
Baroque and Classical concerti for solo viola. Noticeable exceptions are the Sixth
Brandenburg Concerto composed by J. S. Bach in which he used two violas, and the
Third Brandenburg Concerto in which three violas are used in the leading melodic role.
In the second half of the eighteenth century, the composers started to explore the
possibilities of the viola, valorizing it as a soloist instrument.
One of the earliest viola concertos is attributed to Telemann, probably written
before 1740. Telemann wrote many works featuring the viola, his Concerto in G major
and his Concerto for Two Violas being the most famous. However, it was in Mozart`s
Sinfonia Concertante (1779) and in Berlioz's Harold in Italy (1834) that the undeniable
capacity of the viola as a solo instrument was demonstrated for the first time.
From 1750, the development of the technical proficiency of the violists inspired
composers to write more music for the viola. The German, Karl Stamitz, was one of
these composers and the first to specify a left hand pizzicato in a composition, which
occurs in his Viola Concerto in D major, Op.1, a standard work for violists, published in
1774. In the primary theme of this concerto's first movement, there is one passage with
groups of sixteen notes in octaves. It is fast and in high position, which needs accurate
shifting for violists. This passage made this piece become one of the orchestral audition
repertoires, just like Hoffmeister's Viola Concerto in D major.26
25
Main Source for this Text:
David BOYDEN / Ann WOODWARD, Viola, in: Stanley SADIE / John TYRREL (ed.), The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 26, New York 2001, P. 687-95.
26
Su CHIU-CHING, A Performance Guide to Franz Anton Hoffmeister's Viola Concerto in D Major with
an Analytical Study of Published Cadenzas. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, USA 2010.
27
→Example No. 2.2.1 - Stamitz´s Viola Concerto (first movement)
Stamitz was a virtuoso of the viola and viola d´amore ahead of the violin, and
his compositions were very popular at the time. He was one of the most productive
orchestral composers. His viola concertos were full of creative ideas. In the Viola
Concerto in D major, Op. 1, Stamitz not only called for the gorgeous passages that
were common in all the concertos of the period, but he also incorporated multiple
stopped chords, harmonics and left hand pizzicato, techniques associated with virtuosity
that were not very usual at the time. An unusual orchestration, which call for two viola
parts rather one, and a pair of clarinets, instead of the more usual oboes, is also
noticeable in the works of Stamitz.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a prominent composer and publisher. As a
professional composer, he composed works on commission, and in later years, with
publication in mind. Hoffmeister's Viola Concerto in D major has become one of the
representative Classical concertos for the viola repertoire. The classical style, the warm
tones in the middle range of the viola register and the virtuosic passages, make this
work a solo standard work used at competitions and auditions. This concerto and the
Concerto in B flat are similar in style to Stamitz's concerto, with their elegant and
imposing open movements, melancholic, beautiful slow movements, and joyful rondo
finales, exploiting the full range of the viola, since the shinning upper register to the rich
lower register.
The great period for Classical music (1770-1837) is dominated by four great
composers: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. However, it is not widely known
that there was a fifth, Johann Nepomuk Hummel, who was Mozart's most famous pupil
and teacher of several Romantic virtuosi, including Mendelssohn. He was greatly
28
admired by Berlioz and Liszt. Although he has been forgotten for too long, his musical
works are now receiving greater acknowledgment. Hummel was an Austrian composer
and pianist whose music reflects the development from the Classical to the Romantic
period. He was considered to be the greatest improviser at the time, and his music is
exceptionally melodious and creative. Hummel`s Potpourri for Viola and Orchestra,
especially in the shortened version, the Fantasy, are important contributions to the
viola repertoire of the early Romantic period. The original, published as Hummel`s Op.
94, dates about 1820, and includes themes from Mozart's Don Giovanni, the Mariage of
Fígaro, Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail, and Rossini's Tancredi.
In the world of orchestral writing, composers in the nineteenth century became
increasingly interested in the unique tone color of the viola and began featuring it and
writing more interesting parts for it to play.
We must remember the predominance of the lower voices in the Beethoven's
Ninth Symphony, particularly in the starting of the famous Ode to Joy, theme with just
cellos and basses, added later by the violas. Other examples include, the aforementioned
Strauss' tone poem Don Quixote, the Ysobel variation (6th) of Edward Elgar's Enigma
Variations and the La Paix movement of the ballet Coppélia of the composer Léo
Delibes (1836-1891), which gives prominence to a solo for viola. Berlioz, also gave the
violas prominent melodic lines. Wagner, Tchaikovsky (1840-1883), Mussorgski (18391881) and Richard Strauss all wrote progressively more difficult and prominent viola
parts in their works.
Hector Berlioz spearheaded the French Romantic Movement in music. His
influence was critical for the further development of Romanticism especially for
composers like Richard Wagner, Franz Liszt, Richard Strauss, Gustav Mahler (18601911) and many others. Berlioz had a unique compositional imagination expressed in
his treatment of orchestra writing. He conceived new musical colors and sound
combinations and introduced these into his orchestra writing. He introduced choirs,
vocal soloists, the harp and the saxophone (the invention of his friend, the Belgian
Adolphe Sax) permanently into the symphony orchestra, experimenting with stereo and
acoustical effects, inventing the idée fixe (a recurring short melodic strain signifying a
person or obsession, forerunner of Wagner's leitmotiv), and creating the modern
29
orchestra. He also wrote the Treatise of Instrumentation and Orchestration that became
the “dictionary of orchestration” until the mid twentieth century.
Berlioz, was an obsessed composer with the purpose of creating his own musical
language. In his autobiographical Symphonie Fantastique (1830), the idée fixe,
represented the composer`s obsessive passion for the Irish Shakespearean actress
Harriet Smithson.
Harold in Italy Symphony for Solo Viola and Orchestra, Op. 16, is a tribute to
the Romantic poet George Byron, known as Lord Byron. At the time, Lord Byron was
best known for a long poem, Childe Harold`s Pilgrimage. The poem depicts Byron`s
excursions through the countries of the Mediterranean. Berlioz composed the four parts
of the symphony with his own wanderings through Italy. He tried to recreate what he
was hearing in his travels using his own musical language.
The viola concerto repertoire has been developing simultaneously with the
making of the viola, the growth of the violist`s capability, and the progress in
compositional techniques. However, composers in the Romantic period favored,
fundamentally, the use of the viola in chamber music.
The viola has an important role in chamber music, and we must go back to
Haydn and Mozart to note the beginning of its development as a distinct individuality.
During the lifetime of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, many changes took place
in the treatment of the viola in chamber music, especially in quartets and quintets and
occasionally in string trios and duos. A greater equality and a notable advance of viola
technique can be observed in chamber music.
In his chamber music, Haydn established the conversational style of
composition (example No. 2.2.2) where, unlike counterpoint each instrument
contributes with its own character to the music as it develops. He also established the
overall form for his chamber music works, which remain the standard to the present
day.
30
→Example No. 2.2.2 – Score of Haydn`s Op. 20, No.4, showing conversational
mode.27
Mozart largely expanded the conversational Haydn`s style, and mainly he
believed in the power of the viola, when in his string quartet and his string quintets he
attributed to the viola similar important passages with those of the violin. In Mozart's
last string quartet (K 590), solos are given to the viola and a considerable degree of
virtuosity is demanded of the instrument. In his six string quintets, some of which are
considered greatest works, he uses two violas for solo passages, exploring the rich tenor
tones of the violas. Mozart also used the viola in his aforementioned Sinfonia
Concertante and in the Two Duets for Violin and Viola. Besides the viola, Mozart also
included the recently invented clarinet in his chamber music; his Kegelstatt Trio for
Viola, Clarinet and Piano, K 498 should also be mentioned.28
The Italian Alessandro Rolla (1757-1841) was a successful violinist, viola
virtuoso and teacher whose contribution to technique, repertoire and history of music is
27
28
public domain (available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamber_music).
David BOYDEN / Ann WOODWARD, Viola, P. 687-95.
31
not often recognized. As a teacher of Paganini, his role was crucial in the evolution of
violin and viola technique. Some of the technical innovations that Paganini used, such
as a wide use of double stops, fast passages in thirds and sixths, octaves, very fast
chromatic scales, flying staccato, and left hand pizzicato, were already used extensively
by Alessandro Rolla in his compositions. Rolla composed concertos and solo pieces for
viola, among them the Sonata in C major for Viola and Bass and the three Concertos
for Viola and Orchestra. He also composed many works for his own pupils with
progressive technical difficulties and in all keys.
Although Rolla's works are not widely performed today, they are great examples
from the Classical period.
Niccoló Paganini (1839-1881) was highly influenced by Rolla´s compositional
style, including his great interest for the viola, which led him to compose important
works for the instrument, such as the Sonata per la Grand' Viola and Orchestra; the
Serenata for Viola, Cello and Guitar, the Terzetto Concertante for Viola, and the
Quartet No. 15 for Viola Concertante. This quartet give us an idea of the great variety
within his musical ideas.
Paganini commissioned Hector Berlioz to write Harold in Italy, a symphony
that gave prominence to a solo viola. However, the solo viola part written for him was
not showy enough, and he decided to write his own viola composition, the Sonata per la
Grand'Viola (1834), a work with the same contours as his virtuoso works for violin.
This Sonata has a Recitativo and a set of Variations, which gave him the opportunity to
exhibit his virtuoso technique. For this, he explored the full tonal range of the viola,
making use of a similar technique to that which he used on the violin. He wanted to
explore new ways to produce sounds and tone colors, often using scordatura, double
harmonics, chromatic scales, octave passages and left hand pizzicato.
Beethoven, also began to write more music for the viola in chamber works,
giving it more melodic lines or occasional doublings of the melody, and making
additional use of special devices: a melody might be emphasized or reinforced by
playing it in octaves, as in the viola and first violin parts in the first movement of the
String Quartet Op.18, No. 4. In his first six string quartets, Beethoven uses his strings in
a manner most similar to Mozart, with the formal structures pioneered by Haydn, but in
the Quartet Op.18, No.1, he gave the cello a new type of voice in the quartet
32
conversation, and in the last movement of Op. 8, No. 6, he creates a new type of formal
structure, introducing a slow melancholic section with a dance. Beethoven introduced
his Three Piano Trios, Op.1 to the public, however, his Septet, Op. 20 in E flat Major,
for violin, viola, cello, contrabass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, established him as one of
most popular composers. This Septet was written in six movements, with solos for each
instrument including the bassoon. Each instrument is given a chance to shine,
sometimes in a group, sometimes as a soloist.
A less important piece is The Duo for Viola and Cello in E flat major (with two
obligato eyeglasses), written in 1796 but never published until 1912. Beethoven,
himself, played the viola. In 1805 to 1806, Beethoven composed the Three Quartets,
Op. 59, which were a significant event in the Romantic style. Moreover, these quartets
were filled with innovative structural and stylistic ideas, being much more difficult to
perform.
As in Beethoven´s last quartets, Schubert established the emerging Romantic
style. He dedicated most of his life to chamber music, writing many string quartets, an
Octet and a quintet. Schubert's String Quintet in C major (D. 956, Op. posth.163) was
composed in 1828, just a few months before his death, and published in 1853. This
work is considered one of the finest chamber works ever composed. Schubert's choice
of instruments for the quintet was uncommon, since he did not follow the
instrumentations used in Mozart´s and Beethoven´s string quintets. Schubert chose to
double the cellos, creating richness in the lower register. There are ample changes of
light and color in the piece, as well as big harmonic variety. The length and the range of
this quintet are of symphonic proportions. The first movement alone is almost as long as
many classical symphonies.
Schumann, Mendelssohn and Brahms also gave the viola a prominent role in
their chamber works.
"Schumann`s Märchenbilder is one of violist's appreciated set of pieces
originally conceived for the viola. Belongs to the genre of Hausmusik a type of chamber
music, usually modest in technical demand that was originally intended to be performed
by amateurs and in bourgeois homes rather than concert halls. Hausmusik was closely
associated with the Biedermeier phenomenon, a cultural current in the several decades
33
following the Congress of Vienna (1815), during which increased political censorship
in Germany had forced many writers, musicians, and poets to retreat into their domestic
lifes. Märchenbilder was probably not the ideal Hausmusik for the nineteenth century
amateurs, however. Both the viola and piano parts are so technically challenging that
only the connoisseurs and professionals might be able to play the work decently. The
four movements in this set are poetic miniatures exploring different combinations of
colors through subtle interplay between the two instruments. For example the first
movement opens with an intensely lyrical melody set in the middle to high range of the
viola, followed by a 7- note motive presented by the piano. This motive then appears in
many different looks for 35 more times within this movement of 72 measures, but it is
painted with a slightly different color each time it reappears. Initially, this motive is
presented by the piano and accompanied by the lower register of the viola; but later, it
is sometimes accompanied by the higher notes of the viola, sometimes stated by the
viola with piano accompaniment, and other times stated without viola. Towards the end,
this motive is cleverly combined with the opening melody."29 Schumann also wrote a set
of four pieces (Märchenerzählungen) for clarinet, viola and piano.
The German composer, conductor and soloist Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
was among the most prominent figures of the early Romantic period. Although his early
death occurred at age thirty eight, Mendelssohn composed five symphonies, numerous
other orchestral and chamber works, and hundreds of vocal works. Among his famous
works for viola are the Sonata for Viola and Piano in C minor and several pieces of
chamber music. Mendelssohn's Viola Sonata, dated 1824, remained unpublished in his
lifetime.
Mendelssohn played the viola and was aware of the difficulties to compose for
viola, as well as the value of the viola color in chamber music. He occasionally gave it a
broad and expressive melody but, essentially, it came into prominence in his chamber
music. As an adolescent, Mendelsshon had also written his first major chamber works,
the String Octet, Op. 20. Already in this work, he evinced the singular style that
characterized his later works such as the lightness of his scherzo movements.
Mendelsshon's Octet (1825) has an unusual (for the time) instrumentation scored for
29
Vincent CHEUNG, Notes on Three Pieces by J.S. Bach, Schumann and Hindemith, in: The Charm of
the Viola (2006); URL: http://www.web.mit.edu/ckcheung/www/musicalwritings.htm (Accessed Oct. 28.
2014).
34
four violins, two violas and two cellos. This octet's singular instrumentation may have
been inspired by a contemporary work, the Double Quartet in D minor Op. 65 (1823)
by the German composer Louis Spohr (1784-1859), which uses the same combination
of strings as in Mendelssohn's Octet, but unlike Spohr's work, Mendelssohn explores the
complete spectrum of expressive and textural resources available to this peculiar mix of
instruments in a perspective more symphonic, unusual for chamber music.
The Mendelssohn's B-flat Viola Quintet, written two years before his death, is
one of his most mature works. The viola quintet, as a genre, was firstly explored by
Mozart, who composed six.
Brahms, like Bach synthesized a period of the music history but, contrary to
Bach, contributed little for the compositional development of music. Far from being a
revolutionary, the composer looked more to the past than to the future, using more
established structures than new ones. Contrary to Schumann, who created music
structures according to his own image, Brahms conserved the musical traditions of Bach
and Mozart. All over his chamber music, he used traditional techniques of counterpoint,
incorporating canons and fugues into conversational and harmonic textures. On the
other hand, Brahms broadened the harmonic and structural vocabulary of chamber
music, challenging traditional notions of tonality. An example of this is in the second
String Sextet, Op. 36, with the innovative chord structures and its contrasts, technical
and melodic.
Since his earliest works, Brahms wrote music that highlighted the viola. In his
Serenade Op. 16, Brahms omitted the violins, favoring the viola. This high appreciation
for the viola is also observed in works such as the String Quartet Op. 8 and String
Quintet Op. 11; Two String Sextets Op. 18 and Op. 36; the String Quartets Op. 51, No.1
and 2 and String Quartet Op. 67. The viola's main theme in the third movement of Op.
67 demonstrated his interest for the viola, as this theme lasts the duration of the
movement, while muted violins and cello provide support for the melody. Brahms also
wrote Two Songs for Contralto, Viola and Piano, Op. 91; the viola song Gestillte
Sehnsucht (Satisfied Longing), and Geistliches Wiegenlied (Spiritual Lullaby) as gifts
for the virtuoso violinist Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) and his wife, Amalie. While
originally written for clarinet and piano, the Brahm's Sonatas in F minor and E-flat
major, Op.120 are among the most important nineteenth century composers'
contributions to the viola sonata, representing a climax of his success as a composer of
35
chamber music. Moreover, the sonatas also take an important role in the history of the
viola.
Parallel with the tendency to seek new modes of tonality and texture in chamber
music, composers started to turn to tonalities and rhythms of their native lands.
The Czech composers Antonín Dvorák (1841-1904) and Bedrich Smetana
(1824-1884) introduced native Czech rhythms and melodies in their chamber music.
These composers also included, significantly, the viola in chamber music. More eclectic
than Smetana, the music of Dvorák shows a large predominance of Slavic cultural
references, but with a prevalence of a style largely influenced by Germanic tradition, as
the influences of composers like Brahms and Wagner. Noticeably, Dvorák and Smetana
opened their quartets with viola solos. Dvorák also played the viola, which apparently
was his favorite instrument, and his chamber music is rich in significant parts for the
viola. Smetana included a remarkable viola part in his Quartet From My Life.
The works of the composers Henry Vieuxtemps and Max Reger are also
important references to the solo viola repertoire.
Henry Vieuxtemps occupies a meaningful place in the violin history as a
prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian Violin School during the nineteenth century.
As a violist, Henry Vieuxtemps, as well as his viola playing and writing, is less
well-known. His viola works show a considerable integration of styles, notably
Beethoven and Schubert, with his own virtuoso approach. There are eight known
compositions for viola; four have opus numbers: The Elegy Op. 30 (published 1854),
the Sonata Op. 36 (published 1863), the unaccompanied Capriccio (No. 7 of Op. 55),
and the Allegro and Scherzo Op. 60. Moreover, the Duo Brilliant Op. 39 for violin and
cello has a viola version with the viola part taking the place of the cello. The opus
without opus numbers include the arrangements of Felicien David`s La Nuit and
Mozart`s Clarinet Quintet for Viola and Piano and the Étude in C minor, originally for
viola and piano, all undated. Except for the first two works Vieuxtemps' viola oeuvre is
posthumous.
The unfinished Sonata Allegro and Scherzo is impossible to date, but apparently
it was his last work for viola. The title, Allegro et Scherzo pour Piano et Alto
36
Concertants, indicates a work for two equal and considerable virtuoso performers. It is
very much in the idiom of its time with grand themes, developments, sequences and
explorations of contrast. This work only had two movements; the first is an inventive
Allegro, and the second a rather elaborated Scherzo.30
Vieuxtemps' viola writing shows evidence of final maturation period, in which he
gradually changed the operatic idiom that dominated the violin concertos in his days,
for an exclusively symphonic style. The operatic style is evident in the Elegy, but the
Sonata Op. 36 began to abandon this idiom for the traditional Romantic forms of
sonata.31 This is one of the important works of the viola literature with its oscillation
between expressive Maestoso, elegiac Barcarolla and Scherazando passages.
The compositional style of the German composer Max Reger integrates
chromatic harmonic language with formal structures of the Baroque and Classical
periods. He was greatly influenced by the chromaticism and motivic writing of Wagner
and by the slightly older contemporary Richard Strauss, but to the end of his life he was
moving towards a neo-Classical posture. Reger's music often combines the classical
structures of Beethoven and Brahms with the extended harmonies of Liszt and Wagner
and the complex counterpoint of Bach.
Reger was a man of excess. He drank, ate, smoked, and composed to excess. His
critics claim that he composed too much music, and that his music incorporated too
many notes. Reger composed prodigious amounts of songs, piano pieces, choral and
orchestral music. His large amount of chamber music is perhaps his most important
addition to the concert repertoire. The two Piano Trios, Op. 2 and 102, are examples of
Reger's early and mature styles. Op. 2 is scored for violin, viola and piano, and
Brahms´s influence is apparent throughout in the melodic and harmonic identity, but
already in this early work, Reger was moving away from Brahm's clear structural
delineation. Reger's early works are markedly different from his later works, in which
he sought to find a new path for tonality.
The string quartets are usual works in Reger's chamber music, and he often uses
the finales of his quartets as opportunities to meet his expectations of polyphony.
30
Marshall FINE, The Unfinished Vieuxtemps Viola Sonata, in: Journal of the American Viola Society,
XIX (2003).
31
Ibid.
37
Reger's Sonatas are examples of his melodic style, full textures and complex
accompaniment. They are considered by others as dense and with excessive duration. In
1894, Reger heard the clarinet sonatas that Brahms wrote for Richard Mühfeld, a
clarinetist he greatly admired, and decided to compose a series of challenging pieces for
clarinet/viola and piano. The first two compositions were written in 1900 and assigned
the Op. 49. The third, Op. 107, a longer piece, which is much more melodious and
accessible, came about eight or nine years later. These pieces were definitely inspired
by Brahms, whose viola sonatas were also originally for clarinet. Like Brahms, Reger
created music that was viable on either instrument.
In his final years, Reger turned to a simpler compositional style. His Serenade
for Flute, Violin and Viola Op. 141a, composed in the year before his death,
demonstrate this way.
Among his orchestral works there are Three Suites for Solo Viola, Op. 131d,
written in the last year of Reger's life and clearly inspired by Bach to recreate the dance
and aria forms of the 18th century. All three suites begin with a Prelude, but the second
is the only one resembling a Baroque suite.
The late nineteenth century marked a turning point in the status of the viola. The
viola making came to a mature level, and viola virtuosos arose. Since the appearance, in
the early twentieth century, of the world famous viola virtuosos: Lionel Tertis, William
Primrose and Paul Hindemith (1895-1963), the viola began to stablish itself as a solo
instrument.
38
2.3. TOWARDS THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY: LIONEL TERTIS
AND WILLIAM PRIMROSE'S PROMINENT CONTRIBUTION
In the first half of the twentieth century, with the instrumental playing of
transcriptions by exceptional violists, such as Lionel Tertis, the potential of the viola as
a soloist instrument became evident. Tertis's performances revealed the viola`s value as
a solo instrument and inspired numerous works composed specifically for him.
Tertis, the first great virtuoso of the viola, was described by his former students
as one of the century's most forceful and intense musicians: a powerful personality,
small in stature, but upright and vigorous.
Tertis made numerous transcriptions that helped fill the gap in the viola
repertoire. Among Tertis's transcriptions are the Edward Elgar's E minor Cello
Concerto, Op. 85; Brahm's Cello Sonata in E minor, Op. 38; the Mozart's Clarinet
Concerto, and Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words, Op. 19. He also arranged pieces for
viola ensemble such as the Beethoven's Trio for Two Oboes and English Horn, Op. 87,
which he transcribed for three violas: "Beethoven, among his numerous transpositions
arranged his trio of two oboes and cor - anglais for two violins and viola: Incidentally, I
went on better than that; I arranged the work for THREE violas and what is more I got
it into print!."32
In his book My Viola and I, Tertis shares his attitude concerning these
transcriptions:
"Once you became a viola player one of your most important duties is to strive
to enlarge the library of solo viola music, by fair means or foul. Cajole your
composer friends to write for it, raid the repertory of the violin, cello or any
other instrument, and arrange and transcribe works from their literature
suitable for your viola. The Pecksniffan attitude that it is sacrilege to transpose
works from the original to another medium is fast disappearing. I have never
had a qualm about making arrangements myself, providing of course that they
sound well on the viola [….]. My urge to add to the library of viola music has
always been strengthened by the fact that the great masters themselves
32
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 64.
39
rearranged no end of their works, for all sorts of instruments and
combinations."33
Tertis not only transcribed and published works for the viola, but he also
performed these arrangements in concerts, such as the transcription of Elgar's Cello
Concerto, which the composer himself authorized and conducted:
"When I tried my hand at arranging his [Elgar] cello concerto for the viola he
authorized me to direct that printed on the viola part in large letters should be
the words: ´Arranged with the sanction of the composer´. The first time I heard
this concert, I had been struck by its suitability for the viola. How often I
murmured to myself over the years – if only I could have a work from this great
men`s pen. In 1929 I undertook the transcription [....]. The slow movement of his
cello concerto all lies within the viola's compass with the exception of one note.
That is to say, it can all be played on the viola in the same pitch as the cello - all
but a single B flat below the viola clef. I decided to do it by tuning my C string
down to B flat for the purpose. When I had finished the second movement, I
engaged Sir Edward in conversation concerning certain passages I had slightly
altered in the work […]. Never shall I forget Elgar`s look of growing
consternation as we approached the low B flat in this phrase:
Which in my version was written:
I could see written on Elgar`s face: Surely this fellow is not going to do this!
33
Ibid., P. 161-162.
40
When I played the low B flat he nearly sprang out of his chair with surprise and
delight."34
Tertis didn’t restrict himself to the transcriptions and promotion of the
instrument; he also was the founder of a modern technique, the designer of a modern
instrument (Tertis model viola), and an inspiration to other composers (as we will see
further).
Lionel Tertis also transcribed various important violin method books for the
viola, which are essential pedagogic tools for technique development. Among those are
the Sevcik´s School of Technique op.1, School of Bowing Technique Op. 2, and Changes
of Position and Preparatory Scale Studies, Op. 8.
In his treatise, The Beauty of Tone in String Playing, Tertis explained his ideas
for sound production, based on continuous vibrato, a new concept for players of that
time. In this book, described by Fritz Kreisler as “a very valuable contribution to the
pedagogical literature of our art”, Tertis writes:
"The vibrato should be vital in the sense that it should be continuous. There
should be no break whatever in it, particularly when going from one note to
another, even when changing position. The momentary stopping of the vibrato,
all too prevalent among string players, and the cause of ruining expressive tone
quality of a phrase, is particularly likely to occur in changing positions. It
should never occur. KEEP YOUR FINGERS ALIVE!"35
Tertis' vibrato was significantly influenced by his admiration for Fritz Kreisler`s
(1875-1962) continuous vibrato. Tertis described the experience of hearing Kreisler, in
the early stage of his career as a violist, “as like falling in love”:
34
35
Ibid., P. 64-67..
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 147.
41
"His glowing tone, his vibrato, unique and inexpressively beautiful, his phrasing
which in everything he played was so wonderful and so peculiarly his own, his
extraordinary fine bowing and left-hand technique, his attitude at once highly
strung and assured, the passionate sincerity of his interpretations - all this made
me follow him around like a dog wherever he played in this country."36
Kreisler`s warm and continuous vibrato was adapted by Tertis in his own
playing in order to produce a sonorous and rich tone. Tertis also considered that the
proper vibrato speed should be moderate: "A too slow vibrato is an unhealthy sound,
producing a sentimental effect. It is positively sick making. A too fast vibrato militates
against serenity and is nervously irritating to say the least of it. Avoid them both and so
achieve a happy medium."37
Continuous vibrato has become a principal requisite in twentieth century tone
production. Portamento was another technique applied extensively by Tertis. Although
he employed various kinds of portamento, there are certain circumstances in which he
considered its use inappropriate: "Must never be employed from a note into an open
string, and it should always be discreet [....]. Portamento is another resource which,
unless employed with utmost discretion can ruin the artistry of string playing."38
The variation in choice of fingering was also the method used to alter the tone
color and phrasing as Tertis remarked:
"Variety of fingering is another factor making for expressive tone-quality
especially when two identical passages immediately follow one another.
Whenever possible use a different string for the repetition of a phrase - for the
sake of the altered colour and general vitality of effect which the variation in the
method employed affords. If this is not possible and the repetition can only be
played on the same string, use all your ingenuity to give the repetition as much
alteration of fingering as you can, for the important effect of variety."39
36
Ibid., P. 19-20.
Ibid., P. 147.
38
Ibid., P. 148.
39
Ibid., 148-150.
37
42
During the mid-1930s, Tertis was stricken by acute rheumatism in his right arm,
which had been affecting his bowing, and he gradually had to reduce his repertoire. He
decided that his last public performance would be at a concert on 24 February 1937, for
which he had been engaged by the BBC in celebration of his sixtieth birthday, to play
both the Walton Concerto and Harold in Italy.
On 27 February the "Evening News" reported Tertis as saying:
"I suppose I can claim that my campaign was a success, for plenty of fine
modern composers have written for the viola players to carry on. It is a great
thing to feel there are artists like Bernard Shore and William Primrose to carry
on after me. My one immediate regret is that I shall never play the Romantic
Phantasy for Violin and Viola which I persuaded Arthur Benjamim to compose.
He has finished it and I like it enormously […]. Somebody else will have to do
that now […]."40
William Primrose wrote to Tertis on 23 March, from New York:
"It is with the great consternation that I read of your retirement. This is indeed a
decision that I sincerely trust you will reverse before long. There is really too
great a dearth of fine musicians – and especially violists- for the public and your
colleagues to lose you. Everyone over here is most surprised. If it is your
irrevocable decision then my very best and warmest good wishes go with you,
and my heartfelt thanks and deepest gratitude too, for all you have done for me.
Please believe that anything I may do in the future will be ' l'hommage au grand
maître'. I am sure I voice the feelings of all your disciples and admirers."41
Tertis's legacy has been summarized by William Primrose in his memoirs,
"Walk on the North Side":
"Tertis was an indomitable man. He initiated all this viola business and set the
string world on its ear. He was the first person to attempt to persuade the public
40
41
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virttuoso of the Viola, P. 154.
Ibid, P. 155.
43
at large to listen to the viola as a solo instrument and in so doing upset many
apple carts. He knew very well that he was not going to get anywhere in his
crusade unless he stormed and battered the citadel of apathy that held violists
and the instrument in the deepest dungeon of low esteem and regard. And storm
and batter he did! It was a heroic battle. For those of us who followed in his
train, our task was rendered all the more easy and rewarding because of him.
He was the first to insist that the viola was an instrument distinct from other
string instruments, that it had a personality on its own. To suggest to him that
performance on it was no more than playing the violin a fifth down was to
commit the sin of sins and to evoke his swift and devastating wrath. Such a
suggestion affects me in the same way [….]. During the early part of his career
Tertis was reviled-not looked upon as an upstart but a 'downstart' […]. Although
a small man he was a feisty warrior and wouldn't take no for an answer at any
time from anybody. He had the deepest faith in what he was doing and an
unquenchable love for the viola- for what he left and realized he was capable of.
Gradually he forced recognition of the instrument on the concert-going public,
particularly in England […], He made a perfect pest of himself to composers,
more or less sitting on their doorsteps and insisting that they write for him.
These days it is somewhat different. Composers will respond to a commission, a
nice check fluttering before their eyes usually cajoles them into writing. In
Tertis`s day, however, that was demonstrably not the case, at least not for him.
Consequently the works he was able to wring from reluctant composers are in a
way even more important than those we commission today. Most of those who
wrote for Tertis were minor British composers-but good ones. Like minor poets,
they can be very engaging. He had to convince them that he offered a
worthwhile way of communicating their musical thoughts. And of course he was
convincing [….]."42
When I first started to perform on the viola, Tertis was very generous in his
praise. He encouraged me, and as the years went on we became close friends,
though I didn`t see him as often as I could have wished."43
42
43
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. 163-164.
Ibid., P. 164-165.
44
In 1926, after Primrose had been a professional violinist he began to study under
the aging master of the violin Eugéne Ysaÿe (1858-1931), who provided him with new
motivation and much-needed technical refinement. According to Primrose, Ysaÿe
influenced him the most directly, nevertheless Primrose was also inspired by recordings
of Kreisler, Elman, Heifetz and others.
In his book Walk on the North Side, Primrose notes: "I became aware that I did
not know as much about my musical trade as puerile conceit had led me to suppose. My
dedication to practice did not burgeon fully until I came under the ponderous, yet
benign, influence of my great master, Eugéne Ysaÿe."44
Primrose`s career divides into three stages: the violin phase; the first viola
phase, in which he performed with his father's tenor sonority Amati viola; and the
second viola phase, when he switched to the bigger and more alto-sounding Andrea
Guarneri and was influenced by Heifetz. Later in his career, he used a more intense
vibrato in his performances, giving a more alto tone. Hence the divergence with Tertis,
who preferred the deep tenor sonority and a wide Kreisler`s continuous vibrato.
Tertis's rich-toned performances were responsible for most of the interest in the
viola as a solo instrument during twentieth century, but it was Primrose that became
the first modern viola star:
"If Lionel Tertis was the first protagonist, Bill Primrose was certainly the first
star of the viola."45
Yehudi Menuhin
William Primrose also added to the viola repertoire many arrangements and
transcriptions, and inspired and commissioned original compositions by contemporary
composers. Among these, prominent figures are Benjamim Britten (1913-1976),
Darius Milhaud (1892-1974), George Rochberg (1918- 2005), and Edmund Rubbra
(1901-1986).
The most important composition ever written for Primrose was probably the
Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Béla Bartók, in 1944. He had commissioned this
44
45
Ibid., P. 8-9.
Ibid., P. x.
45
work, but it was left incomplete at Bartók´s death, in 1945, and had to wait four years to
be finished by Tibor Serly, in 1950.46
In 1950, Benjamim Britten wrote for him Lachrymae, based on the song by the
lutenist and composer John Dowland. Like others, Dowland's lute songs' musical form
and style are based on a dance, in this case the pavan (a slow processional dance
common in Europe during the 16th century). Other transcriptions and arrangements
include the famous Nocturne from Borodin's Second String Quartet, Six Vivaldi Cello
Sonatas, and the Beethoven Nocturne, Op. 42 for viola and piano, which he dedicated to
Lionel Tertis. In his transcriptions, the musical line is normally kept in the higher
register of the viola, showing its possibilities as a solo instrument.
Besides a successful career as a performer, Primrose was also a distinguished
pedagogue. He also wrote or contributed to four important pedagogical works: Art and
Practice of Scale Playing (Millls, 1954); Technique is Memory (Oxford University
Press, 1960), Violin and Viola (Schirmer, 1976) and Playing the Viola (Oxford
University Press, 1988):
"I regard the relationship between teacher and student as a sort doctor-patient
relationship. A doctor has in his life a whole list of medications to cure certain
illnesses according to his skill as a diagnostician. Similarly, I believe I have in
my mind a file of different exercises, remedies, and so forth to counteract
different bow ailments. When a student comes to study, my problem is to
diagnose the trouble and apply the remedy."47
Primrose considered the viola sonority, especially the sound of its open strings,
as its most unique character. He strongly encouraged other violists to use more open
strings, natural harmonics, and string crossings to bring out the special sonorities of the
viola. He liked to keep the fingerings as simple as possible by using low positions, half
step shifts, and fingerings tricks he learned from Ysaÿe, which tend to favor cleaner,
brighter, more resonant sounds:
"I maintain that the beauty of viola tone resides in the open strings, with a free
use of natural harmonics and a lot of bariolage, this I perceive to be
46
47
Maurice RILEY, The History of the Viola, Vol.1, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1980, P. 284.
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. 194-195.
46
accomplished with a sensitive use of unusual string crossings, not repudiating
the tasteful use of open strings in the process. This apparent unnecessary
crossing of the strings was frowned upon by Szigeti in his writings. Curiously
enough, on the viola this practice sounds very acceptable to my ear. It lends
pungency to the tone that is otherwise lacking. We must strive to eliminate from
the listener's ears and from the average listener's prejudice the reproach that the
viola is the dull dog of the string family."48
His right-hand technique was also largely influenced by Ysaÿe. In particular,
Primrose avoided bow pressure that sometimes produce unwanted noise. The upper
third of the bow for detaché was preferred, to avoid the “scrubbing” effect of slowspeaking strings.
In his style, Primrose tends to use more vibrato and less portamento. Primrose
used portamento in varied ways, depending on the character of a passage. He also called
for many “colors” of vibrato, saying that vibrato should "enhance what the bow is
doing" and that vibrating too intensely for too long is undesirable. Primrose observed
that: "there are some students who are incapable of vibrating properly, in which case
their "senza vibrato" have no life in them whatsoever; the absence of vibrato can be
sheer torture to our contemporary ears."49 The lack of vibrato may be considered as a
barrier to communicating emotionally in musical performance.
Primrose insisted all his life, THE VIOLA WAS NOT AN OVERGROWN
FIDDLE, adding: "When I am playing the viola, I feel a sense of oneness with the
instrument that I never felt when playing the violin."50
Because of Tertis' and Primrose's elevation of performance standards and the
promotion of the viola in a solo capacity, there was an impressive boom in the viola
repertoire, making the twentieth century the most remarkable era in the viola history.
As Lionel Tertis had put it:
"THE VIOLA: CINDERELLA NO MORE!"51
48
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, P. 114.
Ibid., P. 155.
50
Ibid.
49
47
3.
THE
VIOLA
AS
A
VIRTUOSIC
AND
SOLO
INSTRUMENT: TWENTIETH CENTURY REPERTOIRE
3.1. TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC: BRIEF OVERVIEW
The twentieth century brought a vast experimentation with new musical styles
and forms that defied the accepted music rules of earlier periods. So, the composers of
this century embody an immense range of tastes, skills and styles. During this time, a
great coming and going of various movements was witnessed, among them, postromanticism, serialism, and neo-classicism. In recent times, aleatory music, neoromanticism, minimalism, electronic music and musique concrète have also been
popular. The cultural movements, Impressionism, Expressionism, Orientaliam and
Exoticism, also influenced the musical works of this century.52
The late Romantic period was still present at the turn of the nineteenth century,
and it is notoriously the influence of Richard Wagner, who had broadened the range of
orchestral and harmonic technique with increased chromaticism, The extreme
chromatism used in the music of the late Romantic composers, like Wagner and Strauss,
are a harbinger of a new style, the atonality. Wagner, in the opera prelude of “Tristan
and Isolde” (1865), by never defining a tonality, created the first manifestation of
atonalism, materialized, in the beginning of 1920, by the dodecaphonic techniques of
Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951). Schoenberg disciples, Anton Webern (1883-1945)
and Alban Berg (1885-1935) further developed the use of the twelve-tone technique.
These three composers, the principal figures of the so-called Second Viennese School,
were the main force in the evolution of atonal 12 - tone music.
In the beginning of the 1950s, Pierre Boulez (b.1925) and Karlheinz
Stockhausen (1928-2007), started to experiment with the integral serialism, applying it
to different parameters, like the tone, intensity and rhythm. The use of integral serialism
51
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. (Foreword).
Daphne GERLING, Connecting Histories: Identity and Exoticism in Ernest Bloch, Rebecca Clarke,
and Paul Hindemith`s Viola Works of 1919. Doctoral Dissertation, Rice University, USA 2007, P. 7.
52
48
frees the music from the confinement of the music tradition and allows the emergence
of new sounds.
The Italian composer Luciano Berio (1926-2003), expanded the possibilities of
the serialism in his “Sequenze”, dedicated to solo instruments, including the viola
(Sequenza VI). Written between 1958 and 2002, Berio`s Sequenze are seen as his main
contribution to solo instrumental literature, reflecting some of his most relevant
aesthetic ideas and compositional techniques.
The Sequenza for Viola is a composition of significant difficulty in which the
same basic harmonic sequence is repeated, transformed, and developed. Although this
work is mostly harmonic, it finishes with an unanticipated formation of a melody.
Sequenza VI became the central basis for more works like Chemin II and Chemins III.
In these works, the harmonic characteristics and articulations of the Sequenza are
expanded, but the solo part is maintained.
John Cage (1912-1992) is among the most prominent American composers of
the twentieth century. He is the pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic
music, and non-standard use of musical instruments. From 1950 onwards Cage
developed methods of selecting the components of his pieces by chance. From this
emerged various musical techniques such as indeterminacy, aleatoric music, intuitive
music and free improvisation.
Cage's early works used the 12 - tons method of his mentor, Schoenberg, but by
1939 he had begun experimenting with creative instruments such as the prepared piano
(a piano altered by objects placed between its strings), tape recorders, record players,
radio, etc). His main contribution to music history is his methodical establishment of the
principle of indeterminacy by adapting Zen Buddhist practices to composition and
performance. In his most famous work, 4'33'' (Four Minutes and Thirty-Three Seconds,
1952), for exactly 4 minutes and 33 seconds, there is a total deliberate absence of sound
making environment sounds, heard by the audience during performance, as the content
of the composition.53
After World War I, emerged the Neo-Classicism and the composers started to
use musical elements from the past such as form, harmony, melody and structure. Led
53
Betsy SCHWARM, John Cage, in: Encyclopǣdia Britannica, 2013; URL:
http://www.britanica.com/EBchecked/topic/88339/John-Cage (Accessed 15 Jan. 2014).
49
by Igor Stravinsky, many composers looked to the music of pre-classical Europe for
inspiration. Works like Stravinsky`s Double Canon for String Quartet sounded
contemporary but were modeled on Baroque and early classical forms like the canon,
fugue and the sonata form. Other Neo-Classic composers include Sergei Prokofiev
(1891-1953), Maurice Ravel (1875-1937) and Hindemith.
The musical vocabulary expansion was carried further by the use of microtones,
with the so-called microtonal music. The most prominent microtonal music composers
were Alois Hába (1893-1972), Charles Ives (1874-1954), Harry Partch (1901-1974),
Henry Cowell (1897-1965), John Cage, Karlheinz Stockausen, and Krzysztof
Penderecki (b.1933).
In the 1940s and 50s, with the exploration of the use of technology in music,
emerged the musique concrète. The development of musique concrète was achieved by
the use of new music technology, such as the access to microphones, phonographs, and
magnetic tape recorders. Musique concrète is created by the manipulation of recordings
of naturally occurring sounds. Pierre Schaeffer (1910-1995) and his associates
developed this technique in 1948. Composers like Messiaen, Stockhausen, Pierre
Boulez, Edgard Varèse (1883-1965), and Iannis Xenakis (1922 - 2001) also
contributed to the research of concrète and electronic music.
The composer Iannis Xenakis, was a music theorist and architect-engineer,
particularly remembered for his pioneering electronic and computer music, and for the
revolutionary ideas of the use of mathematical organization of music, and its structural
parallels with architecture.
A student of Messiaen, Xenakis rejected serial methods and John Cage's
chance music, and he integrated theories of probability in his compositions in order to
generate and control large - scale events composed of massive numbers of individual
elements. Among his most important works are Metastaseis (1953-54). This work
requires an orchestra of 61 players, dominated by the strings (46) with no two
performers playing the same part. Xenakis was also the author of numerous books, such
as Formalized Music: Thought and Mathematics in Composition (1971), considered the
most important theoretical work of the twentieth century music. Among Xenakis works
is Embellie for solo viola.
50
By the early 1970s, Alfred Schnittke`s (1934-1996) frequently used the
Polystylism, a compositional technique based on the use of multiple styles or techniques
of music, suggesting his greater openness to all styles and sound phenomena.
During the 60s and 70s, the rejection of serialism complexity by avant-garde
composers gave rise in America to the minimalism of La Monte Young (b.1935), Steve
Reich (b.1936), Terry Riley (b.1935), Philip Glass (b. 1937) and later John Adams (b.
1947). In Europe, in the 1970s, by the influence Stockhausen another compositional
technique arose: the spectral music.
The spectral music appeared in three different forms: in the French school
composed of a few Messiaen's pupils, such as Gerard Grisey (1946-1998), and Tristan
Murail (b. 1947); in Germany, with the group Feedback (Peter Eötvös and others),
whose members are mostly Stockhausen`s disciples; and in Romania with their main
representative Horatiu Radulescu (b. 1942). However, the origins of the spectral music
can be traced in the works of Edgar Varese, Messiaen, Giorgi Ligeti (1923-2006),
Stockhausen, and Iannis Xenakis.54
In the 90s, composers such as Henryk Görecki (1933-2010),
Arvo Pärt
(b.1935), and John Tavener (1944-2013) made international notoriety with the holy
minimalism, using a more spiritual approach to the minimalism, a trend in music that
uses the simplest and fewest elements to create the maximum effect (simplified
rhythmic, melodic and harmonic vocabulary).
Many styles and aesthetics were cultivated in the twentieth century. With the
explosion of possibilities created from all these different styles, new melodic, rhythmic,
harmonic and textual forms were integrated in music. These new tendencies of
composition revolutionized music and the music for viola was not an exception.
54
Joshua FINEBERG, Spectral Music, in: Contemporary Music Review, XIX (2000), P. 81-113.
51
3.2. TWENTIETH CENTURY MUSIC FOR VIOLA
Possibly, the most surprising phenomenon of music history in this century was
the rapid growth of the “Viola Concerto” repertoire. The three Viola Concertos by
William Walton (1928), Paul Hindemith (1935) and Béla Bartók (1945/49) remain the most
significant and often played works among all those written for the instrument. Lionel
Tertis and William Primrose were personally and directly responsible for most of the
concertos written from 1928 to 1955.
William Walton (1902 - 1983) is one of the most renowned British composers of
the twentieth century. His most important masterpieces were: Façade (1921), the Viola
Concerto (1928) and the First Symphony (1927). Façade, which shows Walton's
characteristic vivacity and rhythmic power, was written to accompany a series of
nonsensical Edith Sitwell`s poems of the same name, which were based on word
rhythms and onomatopoeias.
Walton's last major composition before his Viola Concerto was the Sinfonia
Concertante for orchestra with piano obligato. This work shows influences from other
composers, such as Borodin, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Ravel, and it is a harbinger of the
Viola Concerto in its harmonic modulations.
In 1928, the conductor Thomas Beecham suggested to Walton that he write a
viola concerto for the renowned violist Lionel Tertis. Walton was a big admirer of
Prokofiev and composed this concerto, influenced by the Russian`s Violin Concerto
No.1. However, Tertis, after receiving the work, didn’t appreciate its modernist excesses
and rejected it. In his autobiography Tertis wrote:
"One work of which I did not give de first performance was Walton´s masterly
concerto. With shame and contrition I admit that when the composer offered me
the first performance I declined it. I was unwell at the time; but what is also true
is that I had not learnt to appreciate Walton`s style. The innovations in his
musical language which now seem so logical and so truly in the mainstream of
music, then struck me as far-fetched." 55
55
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 36.
52
The already famous violist/composer, Hindemith, who had a friendship with
Walton, was then invited to perform the premiere of this work. The first performance
was given in London in October 1929, with the composer conducting the Orchestra.
Tertis was a member of the audience and felt great disappointment with Hindemith`s
playing: "The notes, certainly, were all there, but the tone was cold and unpleasing and
the instrument he played did not deserve to be called a viola, for it was far too small."56
Another member of the audience was the violist and composer Rebecca Clarke,
who, in an interview with Nancy Uscher in the spring of 1978, said of the concerto:
"I remember going to the first performance [.…] Hindemith played it, and I was
in Queen’s Hall, in the circle side, and in the middle of the Hall was Tertis,
listening. And Hindemith, obviously, was the kind of player who was a fine
musician, but he didn’t practice. And he was playing with practically no vibrato.
And in a way that was quite different from the way Tertis would have wanted to.
And I couldn’t help now and then glancing at Tertis […] every now and then, his
fingers would jump. They would do this, twitch. Because he felt Hindemith
wasn’t doing justice to the work. So I think that had something to do with
making him change his mind."57
Tertis would recognize the great potential and beauty of the concerto, saying: "It
took me time to realize what a tower of strength in the literature of the viola is this
concerto, and how deep the gratitude that we who play the viola should feel towards the
composer - the gratitude to Beecham for having suggested to Walton the composition of
a viola concerto for me."58
In turn, William Walton expressed the acknowledgment that composers owed to Tertis
for encouraging them to write for the viola.
Tertis later performed the piece and became the piece's most prominent
performer after its premiere, editing also the solo part of the concerto, which was
published on July 1930. Walton inscribed on Tertis´s copy: “For Lionel Tertis with
56
Ibid., P. 36-37.
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, P. 106.
58
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 36.
57
53
gratitude for everything he has done for this work and for his magnificent playing of
it.”59
Other violists who performed the Concerto in the early years were Bernard
Shore, Frederick Riddle and William Primrose.
William Primrose first played the concerto in 1936, in a concert under Sir
Thomas Beecham and also reworked the Concerto solo to make it sound more virtuosic,
apparently with Walton's approval. Later, Primrose learned that his changes to the
concerto were not appreciated by Walton.60
Walton orchestrated the concerto twice, the second time in 1962. This
orchestration eliminated some string instruments and added a harp, showing a different
concept of Walton's orchestral sound in his later years. Walton's reduction of the string
section during the viola solos allows the solo viola to prevail over the orchestra. This
new version is almost always performed.61
Walton's Viola Concerto is one of his first works as a mature composer. Having
started as a successful modern composer, his music began to be considered oldfashioned in the 1950s and 60s due to his pronounced Romantic tendencies.
Walton's Viola Concerto`s legacy inspired other composers to write for viola,
such as Béla Bartók (1881-1945), the foremost twentieth century Hungarian composer.
Béla Bartók`s final period of composition takes place between his emigration to the
United States in 1940 and his death in 1945. At that time his main masterpieces were
the Concerto for Orchestra, and Sonata for Solo Violin, which were completed in 1943
and 1944, respectively.
Inspired by Yehudi Menuhin`s recording of the Second Violin Concerto,
Primrose contacted Bartók about writing a viola concerto. Bartók was unfamiliar with
the viola as a solo instrument and became hesitant to compose for it, but after hearing a
radio broadcast of Primrose playing Walton`s Viola Concerto, he agreed.62 William
Primrose inspired and commissioned Bartók's Viola Concerto, probably the most
important composition ever written for him. The concerto was written when Bartók was
59
Ibid, P. 137.
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, P. 197.
61
James DUNHAM, The Walton Viola Concerto: A Synthesis, in: Journal of the American Viola Society,
XXII (2006), P. 16.
62
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, P. 196-197.
60
54
in terminal stages of leukemia. So, he left the concerto incomplete at his death in
September 1945. The composer, violist and conductor Tibor Serly, a close friend and
student of Bartók, used the sketches and notes that Bartók left behind and completed the
work with the help of William Primrose's suggestions. The premiere of Tibor Serly´s
version of the Concerto was given by Primrose on December 1949. After the success of
this performance, the Bartók Concerto became one of the most significant and popular
concertos for the instrument. How much of the concerto is Bartók's, and how much is
the work of Tibor Serly is a question that may never be answered. There are many
stylistic inconsistencies in Serly's version and in subsequent revisions. Today, two fully
copyrighted versions exist: the Serly version and a revision from 1955 involving
Bartók's son.
Bartók´s Viola Concerto contains profound and very sad emotions about World
War II that had just ended, and about Bartók's destroyed country, but at the same time,
has some happy moments with Hungarian folk tunes.
Paul Hindemith and Rebecca Clarke were simultaneous violists and composers,
and for that, deserve special mention.
Paul Hindemith was a violist, composer, conductor, theorist and pedagogue. His
career began when he was appointed as concertmaster of the Frankfurt orchestra in
1916. Later, as a violist, he toured with the quartet Amar-Hindemith Quartet (1921-9)
extensively throughout Europe. In 1938, due to the increasing dominance of the Nazi
regime in Germany, Hindemith decided to immigrate to Switzerland, and then to the
USA, returning to Europe later in his life.
Hindemith's earliest works were rooted in the German Romantic tradition, but
during the early 1920s, he started experimenting the dissonant sounds of the avant-garde
composers. Following the success of his Quartet No. 2 (1919) and Kammmermusik No.
1 (1921), Hindemith established himself as leader of Germany's avant-garde composers.
With Kammermusik No. 1, the first of eight works that used an expanded tonal
harmony, Paul Hindemith turned to Neo-Classicism, using a more linear counterpoint
also present in his Sonata for Viola Op. 25, No. 4 (1922). With the beginning of 1930s,
his compositions denote a stylistic simplification as is evidenced in one of Hindemith's
best known works, Mathis der Maler (Matthias the Painter, 1932-35).
55
In his book, Craft of Musical Composition (1937-9), Hindemith explains the
style that he established in the early 1930s, which will remain in his later music. This
style is very marked in his works, Der Schwanendreher, Trauermusik and a series of
instrumental Sonatas (1935-55).
Hindemith, being a violist, contributed significantly to the viola repertoire. He
wrote four viola concertos: Kammermusic No. 5 for Viola and Large Chamber
Orchestra (1927), Konzertmusik for Viola and Large Orchestra, Op. 48 (1930), Der
Schwanendreher (1935), and Trauermusik for Viola Solo (1936); four sonatas for viola
solo: Sonata for Solo Viola Op.11, No. 5 (1919), Solo Viola Sonata Op. 25 No.1 (1921),
Solo Viola Sonata Op.31 No. 4 (1923), and Solo Viola Sonata (1937) and three sonatas
for viola with piano: Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 11 No. 4 (1919), Sonata for Viola
and Piano Op. 25 No. 4 (1922), and Sonata C for Viola and Piano (1939).
These seven Viola Sonatas give an overview of Hindemith's development as a
composer from early 1919 to late 1930. The Sonata for Viola and Piano Op. 11, No. 4,
one of the most recorded and performed by violists around the world, has the peculiarity
of combining compositional techniques from a variety of periods and sources. The most
often played solo viola sonatas is the Sonata Op. 25, No.1. In its formal construction,
Hindemith used, for all the movements, the balanced ABA form and a slow-fast-slowfast-slow pattern of tempos between the movements. The industrial revolution had an
enormous impact in this Hindemith composition. There are parts of the Sonata that
sound as a locomotive.
The seven Paul Hindemith works entitled Kammermusik (Chamber Music) were
composed between 1921 and 1927. Dating from 1927, the Kammermusic No. 5 for
Viola and Large Chamber Orchestra (1927) was dedicated to his teacher, Arnold
Mendelssohn at the Frankfurt Hochschule, and had Hindemith as the soloist in the
premiere of the concerto. A parallel series of works entitled Konzertmusik (Concert
Music) was begun by Hindemith in 1926. The Op. 48 Konzertmusik for “viola and
larger chamber orchestra,” dedicated to the French composer, Darius Milhaud and his
wife, was premiered by Hindemith in Hamburg in 1930 and closely resembles
Kammermusik No. 5.
Hindemith`s viola concerto Der Schwanendreher, for viola and full orchestra,
reflects his interests in folk songs as a musical basis. At this time, it was usual for
composers to combine rhythmic and melodic elements derived from folk music in order
to preserve the authentic folk heritage of their countries. Hindemith premiered his own
56
concerto in Amsterdam in the Concertgebouw in 1935. The work was written in the
same period as Hindemith`s book on The Craft of the Musical Composition, in which he
explained his method as an expansion of the established tonal system, rather than
atonality.63 In order to give the solo viola dominance, this work was scored with no
other strings except cellos and basses. Hindemith incorporated four different German
folk songs in his work: Zwischen Berg und tiefem Tal (Between Mountain and Deep
Valley), Nun laube, Lindlein, laube (Now Arbor, Linden Tree, Arbor), and Der
Gutzgauch auf dem Zaune sass (The Cuckoo Sat on the Fence); and for the theme and
variations of the last movement, Der Schwanendreher, which lends its name to the
entire work.
Der Schwanendreher is one of the fundamental pieces of viola repertoire along
with those of Béla Bartók and William Walton.
On January 1936, Hindemith composed and premiered Trauermusik (Music of
Mourning) for solo viola and string orchestra, a memorial piece written for the death of
King George V.
Among the admirers of Hindemith`s music was William Primrose, who wrote in
his autobiography, Walk on the North Side:
“I am greatly stimulated by his music (Hindemith), but I always felt that if he
had ever heard me play or heard the recordings I had made of his music (and if he had
he observed a lofty disregard), he would have turned thumbs down. I was convinced of
a beauty in it that he would not allow in his own performances. He had a horror of
anything to do with sentiment-not sentimentality, sentiment.”64
Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979) was an English composer and violist. Clarke's
parents were both amateur musicians and had a significant impact on her early musical
training, but her main musical influence became her colleagues, such as Benjamim
Dale, York Bowen, and Arnold Bax at Royal Academy of Music (RAM). In 1907, she
was accepted at the Royal College of Music (RCM), where besides studying
composition, she also took lessons from Lionel Tertis and began her career as a violist.
63
Libor ONDRAS, Hindemith`s Der Schwanendreher: A Fantasy Concerto on Folk Tunes for Viola and
Small Orchestra, in: American Viola Society, XIX (2003),
64
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. 167.
57
In 1912, Clarke was one of six women chosen to become a member of the
Queen Hall`s Orchestra (and London Philharmonic), where members had been
exclusively all male until Clarke integrated the orchestra. Between 1916 and 1923, she
performed recitals around the world, and it was during this period that Clarke composed
the Viola Sonata, her best known work.
The 1940s period was her most productive as a composer since the 1920s. Some
of her most beautiful viola works, such as the Passacaglia on an Old English Theme, as
well as Dumka (1941), and two choral works, Combined Carols and Lethe, were
composed during this period.
In 1944, she married the pianist James Friskin, whom she had first known as a
student at the RCM, and afterwards, she ceased composing altogether. She wrote only
three new pieces, including a Scottish Viola Melody, which she dedicated to Friskin.
Much of Clarke`s music was never published, and her work was largely
unknown until the 1970s, but since that time, increased interest resulted in a lot of
recordings and publication of her work.
Among Clarke`s nearly one hundred compositions are the following works for
viola: Lullabies for viola and piano (1909 and 1913); Two Pieces for Viola and Cello
(1916); Morpheus for viola and piano (1918); Sonata for Viola and Piano (1919);
Passacaglia on an Old English Tune for viola and piano (1941).
Clarke's music spans a range of twentieth century styles, including
Impressionism, post-Romantic, and Neo-Classical. Clarke's Viola Sonata, a postRomantic sonata, written for Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge chamber music competition,
won "ex-aequo" with a composition by Ernest Bloch and was premiered at the
Berkshire Music Festival in 1919. After 1923, Clarke wrote some significant viola
pieces, but none of them have a central place as her Viola Sonata. Works written after
1923 primarily explored a more neoclassical idiom. Lionel Tertis was very fond of this
Sonata and performed it many times in his career:
“On 28 May 1920 Rebecca Clarke played her new Viola Sonata to Tertis, her
former teacher. In her diary she wrote: ‘Tertis [....] was really thrilled and will
play it on June 29th. Five days before the concert Clarke went to hear Tertis
rehearse the work with pianist Helen Bidder, who, however, was not up to the
task; the composer managed at short notice to get Arthur Alexander to replace
her. The sonata was included in an afternoon concert at the Wigmore Hall,
58
advertised as a song recital by Norah Scott Turner assisted by Tertis, Arthur
Alexander and William Wolstenholme, with H. Gruenbaum at the piano.”65
Morpheus was written for viola and piano and first performed in 1918.
Morpheus only has a single slow movement, and its motives and themes appear in the
Viola Sonata, both in the first and third movements. Below are examples of the
overlapping material in Morpheus and the Viola Sonata.66
→Example 3.3.1 - Morpheus
→ Example 3.3.2 - Clarke`s Viola Sonata, Third movement
65
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virttuoso of the Viola, P. 68.
Daphne GERLING, Connecting Histories: Identity and Exoticism in Ernest Bloch, Rebecca Clarke,
and Paul Hindemith`s Viola Works of 1919. Doctoral Dissertation. Rice University, USA 2007, P. 128129.
66
59
Another, of Clarke's works, The Passacaglia on an Old English Tune is based
on an English psalm hymn, Veni Creator, attributed to Thomas Tallis. The Passacaglia
is a powerful and deep work with an unusual structure that reflects the difficult times
Clarke was living during the war, the sudden death of her friend and colleague Frank
Bridge, and the separation from her musical life of London. As in her Sonata for Viola
and Piano, Clarke made a cello version of this work, reflecting the great empathy she
had for the cello, probably originated by the great friendship with the English cellist,
May Mukle.67
The Viola Sonata was often played and recorded. Several of her shorter
instrumental chamber pieces, especially Morpheus, Two Pieces for Viola and Cello, and
the Prelude, Allegro and Pastorale have also been performed, recorded, and broadcast
worldwide.
At this time in Romenia, George Enescu (1881-1955) stands out as an
imaginative composer, virtuoso violinist, pianist, conductor and pedagogue. Among his
most important students are Yehudi Menhuin and Ivry Gitlis.
Many of Enescu's works were influenced by Romanian folk music, promoting
the development of his national music.68 This influence appears in his early works,
however, the real significance of his Romanian folk heritage emerges later with
Enescu's search for new ways of developing and combining pure melodic lines. Enescu
considered himself a melodic composer. The melodic line was, for Enescu, the vital
principle of music. Among his main works are the 2nd Sonata for Piano and Viola and
the Octet for Strings (1900).
Enescu´s only work for viola as a solo instrument is the Concertstück for viola
and piano (1906). This composition was dedicated to Teophile Laphorge, the first viola
player at the Paris Conservatoire and principal violist at Paris Opera. Often the
Concertstück is performed in competitions to show off the technical abilities of the
performer. The Concertstück presents elements of both Romanian folklore and Western
music and has become an important work in the standard viola repertoire.
67
Liane CURTIS, Program Notes to Passacaglia on an English Tune, in: Women`s Studies Program,
Brandeis University, The Rebecca Clarke Society (1999), P. ii.
68
Simina RENEA, George Enescu`s Concertstück for Viola and Piano: A theoretical Analysis Within the
Composer's Musical Legacy. Doctoral Dissertation, Southeastern Louisiane University 2011, P. 6-11.
60
Also influenced by the folk music, the first of four collections of twenty four
folk songs for voice and piano was written, in Portugal, by the composer Fernando
Lopes Graça (1906-1994) between 1939 and 1942. From this moment, he incorporated
references to Portuguese folk music in almost all of his works, exploring and
introducing in his own language the harmonic, melodic, and rhythmic elements of
Portuguese folklore.
Fernando Lopes-Graça is one of the most important figures of Portuguese
musical culture. Apart from being a prolific composer, pianist, conductor and teacher,
he was a music critic, essayist, editor, and a democrat and anti-fascist resistant. Victim
of the time in which he lived, Lopes-Graça resisted any attempt to conform to the
ideological and cultural paradigms of the Portuguese New State and the Salazar
dictatorship. His Requiem to the Victims of Fascism in Portugal (Requiem pelas Vítimas do Fascismo em Portugal) is a deep and touching memorial to the lives lost in
Portugal under the Salazar regime. In the Requiem, the influence of Portuguese folk
music is evident. On the other hand, the Requiem is also full of textures and melodic
lines that show the strong influence of the modernist works of Igor Stravinsky.69
His interest in Portuguese traditional music was crucial in the establishment of
his identity as a composer. Like Bartók, Lopes-Graça sought to incorporate folkloric
elements in an essentially modernist style. Stylistically, there are also similarities
between Lopes-Graça's approach and the modernist folklore observed in the work of the
Spanish composer Manuel de Falla (1876-1946). In Lopes-Graça`s works, references
to folksongs are combined with the use of expanded harmony and percussive rhythms
alternating with linear polyrhythms. His folk inspired works include song settings for
solo voice and piano, harmonizations for choir and chamber and orchestral works based
on folk tunes.
In the 1970s, Lopes-Graça introduced music for solo instruments, such as the
cello, viola and guitar. The Concertino for viola, completed in 1962, belongs to LopesGraça's mature years; it covers many arrangements and episodes, including a Moorish
dance (with tambourine), baroque trumpet, and singers. The three sections of this work
are played without break and in a freely created chromatic idiom, showing characteristic
features of the composer`s mature style, including influences of Bartók, a last influence
69
Teresa CASCUDO, The Choral Music of Fernando
http://www.music.gulbenkian.pt/main.html (Accessed Jan. 22. 2014).
61
Lopes-Graça
(2006);
URL:
in Lopes-Graça's music. The Viola Concertino has cheerful outer sections and a
significant, elegiac central meditation. Possibly, this is one of Lopes- Graça's finest
concerto pieces. Other relevant viola works include Seven Apothegms (1981), and
Georgicas Op. 244 (1989) dedicated to Opus Ensemble, and Four Suite Pieces for Viola
and Piano (1978) dedicated to the Portuguese violist Anabela Chaves.
One of the most successful composers of the twentieth century was Ernest
Bloch. He was born in Switzerland in a Jewish family and became an American citizen
in 1924. Bloch was recognized as a successor to Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms and is
known today, primarily, as a composer of Jewish works, in particular his Suite
Hébraique (Hebrew Suite) for Viola and Orchestra. Bloch also wrote the Suite for Viola
and Piano (1919), Meditation and Processional for Viola and Piano (1951) and Suite
for Viola solo (1958) - unfinished. With the Suite for Viola and Piano, he won a prize in
the 1919 Coolidge Competition, leading to recognition and fame.
Bloch's music reflects Jewish cultural and liturgical themes, as well as the
imaginary and exotic world of the Far East, which are fully explored in the Viola Suite.
Both of these influences are most strongly present in music written in the first half of
his career, but by the 1930's, he switched to a more neo-classical and abstract style. In
his Suite Hébraique for viola and piano, or orchestra (1954), Bloch used direct
quotations of traditional Jewish melodies drawn from liturgical functions in its three
movements titled, Rhapsody-Processional-Affirmation. The open Rhapsody displays an
improvisatory quality, while the Processional presents a vision of the ancient priests
ascending to the Holey Temple in Jerusalem. In Affirmation, the wonder of the newly
reborn State of Israel, affirms the spirit of the Jewish people. The suite concludes with
an emotional final.
Lionel Tertis was very fond of Bloch´s music and performed it many times
during his career. Tertis wrote to Julian Herbage on 10 April 1944 about his
forthcoming broadcast of the Bloch Suite:
“I
was so delighted to get the news concerning the Bloch Suite and I write to
thank you. I am really looking forward to it, and I am so glad I am to play it with
Sir Adrian. I should very much like to consult him about some slight alterations.
About 20 years ago when I was giving a number of recitals I roped in a very few
strings and some wind instruments, and played the Bloch at the Wigmore Hall –
62
Eugène Goossens conducting – but this was a travesty with so few players, and
therefore May 1st (1944) will really be the first performance in England with full
orchestra. By-the-way I think it ought to be advertised as a suite for orchestra
and viola (not viola and orchestra) – the orchestra is such a wonderful part of
it.“70
English composers such as Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), Frank
Bridge (1879-1941), Arnold Bax (1883-1953), York Bowen (1884-1961), Benjamin
Britten (1913-1976), Arthur Bliss (1891-1975) Benjamin Dale (1885-1943) and
Gustav Holst (1874-1934) also had an important role in the development of the viola
repertoire, in this century.
Ralph Vaughan Williams dedicated his Flos Campi for Solo Viola, Chamber
Choir, and Chamber Orchestra (1925) and the Suite for Viola and Orchestra (1934) to
Tertis, who gave these two works their first performances.
Upon the request of Lionel Tertis, Frank Bridge composed, in 1906, Two Pieces
for Viola and Piano. The first piece named Pensiero has a mellow character that is
followed by a contrasting and exuberant Allegro appassionato, showcasing two of the
most important sides of Bridge's musical personality. Bridge also composed, in 1912, a
Viola Duo with two movements (Lament and Capriccio), which he, a violist, performed
with Tertis.
One of the composers with whom Tertis worked closely was York Bowen, who
wrote several compositions with Tertis in mind. Bowen`s technical expertise on several
instruments, including the viola, enabled him to write effectively for them. York
Bowen's compositions for the viola provided a significant addition to the expanding
viola repertoire. His most important viola compositions are the Sonata No.1 in C minor
for Viola and Piano (1903), the Sonata No. 3 in F major for Viola and Piano (1906),
the Viola Concerto in C minor (1907), and the Fantasie Quartet for Four Violas (1907),
which was written for Tertis to perform with his students.
70
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, P. 97.
63
Tertis and Bowen performed together many of Bowen`s own compositions.
During 1905-1906, Tertis gave four major recitals to promote his beloved viola. After
the first recital, the following report appeared in the Musical Times:
"As a solo instrument the viola is certainly The Cinderella of the string family,
and there exists so little music written for it that exceptional interest was
attached to the viola recital given by Mr. Lionel Tertis, on the Aeolian Hall, for
he gave first performances of no fewer than six new compositions for viola and
pianoforte. The most important of these was a Sonata in C minor by York
Bowen, who played the pianoforte part. This work is another testimony to the
great talent of Mr. Bowen [….]. In all the compositions Mr. Tertis showed not
only great executive skill, but produced a variety of tone-colour which dissipated
that sense of monotony not uncommonly felt when the viola is listened to for any
extended period."71
After Bowen`s sudden death in 1961, Tertis wrote in the Royal Academy of
Music Magazine:
"York Bowen is indeed a great loss to our Alma Mater- the Royal Academy of
Music- I have known him for over sixty years. He was a brilliant pianist and
prolific composer. He was an example of how one should plan out one`s daily
life systematically, and conscientiously use every minute of it to good purpose
[…]. He and the late Benjamin Dale were the closest friends. I shall always feel
indebted to both of them for their generosity in writing compositions for the
viola [….]."72
Bowen's Fantasie was performed at memorial service and Tertis' birthday
concert in 1972. In The Times, William Mann said about the Fantasie:
"The bass line cannot descend farther than C below middle C, but the limitation
is barely perceived, so rich and multifarious are the texture available. This is a
finely imagined movement in several sections, often twilit and nostalgic (with a
71
72
Ibid., P. 13.
Ibid., P. 19.
64
touch of modality, that doffs the cap to Debussy`s quartet), worth hearing
several times [....]. Violas we are reminded, are versatile as well as tonally
alluring and capable of virtuosity."73
When Tertis asked Benjamin Dale to write a work for him, the commission
resulted in the composer`s most extrovert and challenging work, the Suite Op. 2 for
Viola and Piano. The first two movements received their premiére by Tertis and York
Bowen in a recital at the Aeolian Hall on October 1906.
Dale's Phantasy, Op. 4, for viola and piano, lasting about nineteen minutes, was
completed on May 1910, and premiered by Tertis at a R.A.M. concert in December of
that year.
Tertis also specifically asked Dale to write a work for six violas for a lecture
recital he was giving at the Aeolian Hall on 9 June 1911, and Dale wrote the
Introduction and Andante, Op.5, a romantic and original score. He revised the work in
1913, and it received at least a dozen performances before 1917, but it was not largely
published because of the First World War. 74
Other solo viola works written specifically for Tertis include the Dale's Suite for
Viola and Orchestra, (1911), Gustav Holst's Lyric Movement for Viola and Orchestra
(1934), as well as several compositions by Arnold Bax: the Sonata for Viola and Piano
(1922), the Legend for Viola and Piano (1929), a Trio for Flute, Viola and Harp (1927).
Two years later, Bax completed his first published chamber work, the Trio for Piano,
Violin and Viola in E major. This one-movement work was written under Tertis's
influence; the viola part is often high in the treble clef, rising to the high D above the
stave.75 In 1921-22, Bax wrote his Sonata for Viola and Piano and dedicated it to Tertis.
This was considered one of the Bax's most outstanding works.
Also important for the viola library were the contributions by Benjamin Britten.
The remarkable and original Lachrymae for viola and piano (1950) was dedicated to
and premiered by William Primrose. Two solo pieces, Etude (1929) and Elegy (1930),
and a Double Concerto for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (1932), incomplete (realized by
Colin Matthews) were also composed by Britten.
73
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 137.
Ibid., P. 52.
75
Ibid.
74
65
Largely inspired by the master viola player, Tertis, the composer Arthur Bliss
also gave his contribution to the viola repertoire. His Viola Sonata (1933), dedicated ‘In
admiration – to Lionel Tertis, the true creator of this work’, was close to become a viola
concerto due to its size and difficulty: “As my Sonata grew, I realized that it was really
becoming a concerto for the instrument and if today I had the energy and patience I
would translate the piano accompaniment into an orchestral tissue.”76 Bliss`s Viola
Sonata was first performed on 9 May 1933 at the composer’s home before a
distinguished group of musicians with the particularity of having the composer William
Walton turning pages.
Not many violist are aware today that the well-known composer, Gustav Holst,
composed for the viola. His Lyric Movement for Viola and Small Orchestra (1933)
written for Tertis, was premiered on 18 March 1934. Holst was not entirely happy with
his own piece and wrote to Tertis after the first performance: “Dear Tertis, I send you
my warmest thanks for the great treat you gave me and thousands of others on Sunday
night. Your playing was perfect. I’m sorry I can’t say the same for the piece itself. There
is one bad bit of over scoring which makes me ask myself when am I going to learn the
elements of my job. This shall be put right before the next performance.”77
Lionel Tertis is, still today, the violist with the most works dedicated to him.
Some other composers and works dedicated to him include the following:
Eric Coates, First Meeting for Viola and Piano (1941/42); A. Collins, Theme
and Variations from Divertimento K334 for viola and piano; Thomas Dunhill Triptych,
Three Impressions for Viola and Orchestra/piano, Op.99 (1945); Harry Farjeon, Deux
Morceaux for Viola and Piano (1911/12); Kenneth Harding, Concertante for Five
Violas (2006); J.B.McEwen, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (1901); Breath o´June
for Viola and Piano (1913), Nocturne for Viola and Piano (1917); Percy Pitt, Solo for
Viola and Orchestra (1915); W.H. Reed, Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra (1927);
Adam Carse, Concerto for Viola and Orchestra; Cyril Scott, Fantasie for Viola and
Piano (1911), Ballade for Viola and Piano (1911); Frank Stiles, Concerto for Viola
and Orchestra (1973); Arnold Trowell, Sonata for Viola and Piano; Richard Walthew,
76
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, P. 132.
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, P. 76.
77
66
A Mosaic in Ten Pieces for Viola and Orchestra (2012); H. Waldo Warner, Suite in D
Minor, Op.58, for Solo Viola and String Orchestra (2012).
Among the composers approached by William Primrose to compose a Viola
Concerto is Igor Stravinsky (1882-1974). Unfortunately, Stravinsky did not show
interest in the project. A few years later, Stravinsky composed Elegy for Solo Viola
(1944), work commissioned by the violist Germain Prevost to honor the memory of the
violinist Alphonse Onnou, both members of the Pro - Arte Quartet. Written in 1944,
during the war, it is a melancholic memorial, also reflecting the hardships of these
times.
Germain Prevost also approached the composer Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) to
compose 3 viola works in the memory of his friend, Onnou. Milhaud accepted and
composed Four Visages (1943), Sonata No. 1 (1944), and the Sonata No. 2 (1944).
Darius Milhaud was a French composer famous for his development of
polytonality. Among Milhaud's various compositions for viola are two concertos for
viola and orchestra: The Concerto No.1 Op.108 (1928), composed for Paul Hindemith
and the Concerto No. 2, Op. 340 (1954–1955). Regarded as one of the most difficult
pieces for viola, the Concerto No. 2 was written after a commission by William
Primrose in 1954-1955. Primrose considered this concerto unplayable and unappealing
to the public and never performed it.78
Less known and performed are Peter Racine Fricker´s Viola Concerto, Op. 18,
Edmund Rubbra´s Viola Concerto (1952) and Quincy Porter´s Viola Concerto (1948).
All commissioned by William Primrose, these concertos did not get widespread
adoption among violists. Fricker's Viola Concerto was first performed at the 1953
Edinburgh Festival. It was one of Primrose`s favorites. In his autobiography, Primrose
writes about this concerto:
"I regard the Fricker as perhaps the finest viola concerto in the repertoire.
When I played it at the Edinburgh Festival in 1953 and later in London, Fricker
78
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, P. 212.
67
was comparatively unknown and the English companies weren´t especially
interested in recording his music. When I brought the work to this country,
nobody had heard of him, and of course I wasn´t 'allowed' to play concertos with
various orchestras. I gave only one performance in this country, at the
University of Alabama. The orchestra there was performing a week of English
music, and when I was invited to play I suggested the Fricker. It is a magnificent
concerto but I couldn’t arouse interest in it.”79
Fricker also wrote two other works for viola: the Three Movements for Viola
Solo, Op. 25, premiered in 1955, and the Fantasy for Viola and Piano, Op. 44 (1966).
Rubbra's Viola Concerto was the first in a triptych (the others are for piano and
violin), written in the 1950s. This elegiac concerto is occasionally known as the 'musical
necklace' after the composer's title of the third movement. This concerto achieved more
success than Fricker's, but it is, still today, unknown to many violists and rarely
performed.
Like with Fricker´s Concerto, Primrose also struggled to promote Quincy
Porter´s Viola Concerto:
“The late Quincy Porter once asked me why I didn´t play more often the
concerto he wrote for me. I think it is a fine work and rewardingly written for the
violist, as Porter played viola himself. I told him, 'Quincy, unless you can
become notorious in some way, run off with an infamous and wealthy heiress or
jump off a building, it will be difficult to get your concerto performed.' ”80
Besides the concerto, Porter also composed a Suite for Viola Solo (1930).
Another excellent violist is the American Lillian Fuchs (1903-1995). She has
been awarded the 1979 ASTA (Artist-Teacher Award) by the American String Teachers
Association, a prestigious award given to twentieth century teachers in America. The
same award was won by William Primrose in 1970.
79
80
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, P. 184.
Ibid, P. 79.
68
As a violist, L. Fuchs was known as the first to record the complete Bach Suites
on viola, as well as major works by Mozart, Beethoven, Bohuslav Martinú (18901959), Debussy and others. In addition to her superb performances as viola soloist and
chamber music player, she was also a composer; most of her compositions are for string
instruments including several viola pieces. Among her works are also transcriptions,
such as the Mozart`s Violin Concerto in G Major, K 216.
She has also premiered many chamber music works, and many of them have
been composed specifically for her. Fuchs is also well known for the collection of
studies which she composed (and they were much appreciated by Primrose), as well as
a concert piece titled Sonata Pastorale. The three collections of studies for solo viola
include: Twelve Caprices (in 1950), 16 Fantasy Studies (in 1959), and Fifteen
Characteristic Studies. Twelve Caprices is considered the most difficult, followed by 16
Fantasy Studies. The collection 16 Fantasy Studies and the Fifteen Characteristic
Studies were conceived as a way for developing technique to the level of the Twelve
Caprices.81
Among the works written for her are Martinu's Madrigals for Violin and Viola.
The efforts of Tertis and Primrose resulted in increased interest in this
instrument by the composers of the following generations and in the appearance of
many more viola virtuosos.
The viola also possesses a varied repertoire of microtonal music that can be
included in different categories: the music created mathematically, which applies
particularly to the work Embellie for solo viola by Iannis Xenakis; the music borrowed
from other musical traditions, mostly applicable to the works of the composer Luciano
Berio, especially evident in his works for solo viola (Naturale and Voici). On the other
side, the first movement Hora Lunga of the Györgi Ligeti`s Sonata for Solo Viola relies
on the Pythagorean category of microtonal music.
The major type of microtonal music in recent viola repertoire is associated with
spectral music. Ligeti, is often considered one of the earliest spectral composers. Liget's
works of the 1960s played an essential role in many spectral composers' efforts to
81
Yu-Fang CHEN, Pedagogical Literature for Violists: Selected Studies from Lillian Fuchs's 16 Fantasy
Études and Corresponding Orchestral Audition Excerpts. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Missouri,
Kansas City 2013.
69
realize this vision of music. In the 1970s, Gérard Grisey and Tristan Murail also
produced various spectral works. 82
The microtonality present in Xenakis' Embellie is precise and makes use of
derived tonal divisions to express musical ideas:
“Embellie juxtaposes different types of musical material, often within the span of
a few measures. The brash, microtonally inflected fanfare of the opening
measures, suddenly gives way to slowly creeping glissando double stops; later in
the piece, diatonic modality is succeeded by virtuosic microtonal arpeggios and
throbbing, fortissimo elaborations of a single, static harmony. Each of these
distinct textures seems to include a different conception of pitch structure.”83
Many of Luciano Berio's works mix folk music and his own avant-garde style.
In both his works, Voici (1984) and Naturale (1985) the Sicilian folk melody is
presented by the viola and carefully notated microtonally. It is heard after the
presentation of the same melody in the recorded voice, implying that the noted pitches
in the viola should match those of the singer in the field recording, In the work Voici
(Voices), Berio transcribes his native music of Sicily (the songs of fish mongers, the
songs of laborers, mothers and lovers) for solo viola and two instrumental ensembles,
and in Naturale, he scored it for solo viola, percussion (marimba and tam-tam) and
tape; it contains Sicilian songs sung by an indigenous performer.
In the second half of the twentieth century, the Hungarian composer Györgi
Ligeti (1923-2006) stands out. In 1991-1994, he composed one of his greatest works for
viola, the Sonata for Solo Viola, which consists of six movements: Hora Lunga, Loop,
Facsar, Prestissimo con sordino, Lamento, and Chaconne chromatique. The first
movement, Hora Lunga, is also known by the term Doina (melancholic song), which
focuses on the sound quality of the viola C string, The work is played entirely on the C
82
Dominic DESTEFANO, A Guide to the Pedagogy of Microtonal Intonation in Recent Viola
Repertoire: Prologue by Gèrard Grisey as Case Study. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati,
USA 2010, P. 7.
83
Robert HASEGAWA, Coherence and Incoherence in Xenakis Embellie, in:. Xenakis Proceedings Abstracts from the Conference on Iannis Xenakis at McGill University, Montreal 2010.
70
string, and features and values the sonority of the viola by exploring its whole range and
many of its technical possibilities.
Considered to be one of the founders of the movement known as “spectralism”,
Gérard Grisey exploited the acoustic properties of sound (the frequency of sounds
rather than their pitch) in a vast cycle of works, Les Espaces Acoustiques (Acoustical
Areas), which last for over an hour and a half in performance; the component pieces
range from the solo viola of the opening Prologue (1976) to the large orchestra of
Transitoires (1980), requiring some 90 musicians. Prologue for viola holds a very
special place in the history of the viola music; in it Grisey reveals some of the more
innovative aspects of spectralism.
In the last decades of the twentieth century, many composers, including Alfred
Schnittke (1985), Sofia Gubaidulina (1996), Giya Kancheli (1979) and Krysztof
Penderecki (1983), wrote “Viola Concertos”. The American composer Morton
Feldman wrote a series of works named “The Viola in My Life” (1971), which feature
episodes of solo viola.
Born in the Soviet Union, Alfred Schnittke was a leading Soviet composer.
Schnittke's most important masterpieces were composed in 1985: the String Trio, the
Concerto for mixed Chorus, the Concerto Grosso No.3, and one of Schnittke's most
important work, the Viola Concerto. He composed the Viola Concerto in close
cooperation with the famous viola virtuoso, Yuri Bashmet, to whom the Cconcerto was
dedicated; the deciphered name, Bashmet, is carried with the sound of the first theme.84
In addition to the Viola Concerto, Schnittke composed other works for Yury
Bashmet: Monologue for Viola and Orchestra (1989), Concerto for Three (forViolin,
Viola, Cello and Orchestra) (1994), and a small unaccompanied work entitled For the
Ninetieth Birthday of Alfred Schlee (1991).
Also born in the Soviet Union, Sofia Gubaidulina (b.1931), like Schnittke, is
regarded as one of the leading Russian composers since Shostakovich.
84
Jean CHANG, The role of Alfred Schnittke`s Viola Concerto in the Development of the Twentieth
Century Viola Concerto. Doctoral Dissertation, The University of Arizona, USA 2007, P. 47-51.
71
Characterized by the use of nonstandard instruments, unusual sonorities, and by
the ideas of mystical spiritualism and Christian symbolism, Gubaydulina's musical style
is described as avant-garde, mystical, exotic, and a mix between the western and eastern
tradition. Some of these characteristics can be heard in her Trio for Violin, Viola and
Cello (1988), where the viola has the dominant role for much of the work. One of
Gubaydulina's master pieces, the post-tonal Two Paths (1999), for two violas and
orchestra, refers to two New Testament figures, Mary and Marta.
Like Schnittke, Gubaidulina also dedicated some of her compositions to the
violist Yuri Bashmet: Two Paths and the Viola Concerto (1996). With tonal and
structural complexity, the Viola Concerto is one of the most important and challenging
concertos.
Giya Kancheli (b.1935) is a Georgian composer residing in Western Europe
since 1991. Influenced by various musical styles and genres, Kancheli developed his
own classical and symphonic styles, working toward an ideal that mixes elements of
folk and religious music with avant-garde ideas. Kancheli is best known as a composer
of symphonies and other large-scale works, but also contributed to the viola repertoire
with works like: the quiet and melancholic Mourned by the Wind for solo viola and
orchestra (1990), dedicated to Yuri Bashmet; So I Would not See (1992), for viola and
string orchestra (where in the original instrumentation he replaces the alto flute with
viola); After the Wind (1994) for soprano and viola, dedicated to the violist Kim
Kashkashian; and Styx (1999) for viola, mixed choir and orchestra, also dedicated to
Bashmet. Styx was conceived as a kind of requiem for two of Kancheli's recently
departed friends (Schnittke and Avet Terterian). It is also important to mention his
masterpiece, the Sixth Symphony, which includes a pair of solo violas, one playing the
melody, the other playing an imitation of the sound of an ancient Georgian two-stringed
instrument- the chiamuri.
Krzystof Penderecki (b. 1933) is a Polish composer, conductor and pedagogue,
and one of the best known composers of the late twentieth and early twenty-first
century. His early avant-garde style propelled him to worldwide fame with the work
Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima (1961), but around the mid1970s, Penderecki
began to restructure his music, changing his style to reflect contemporary neoRomanticism. During the 80s, his compositions began to reflect both the sounds of his
72
earlier more radical style and the traditional forms of the second. In this period, he
composed the Viola Concerto (1983) and the Cadenza for Solo Viola (1984 ). Both
works employ similar techniques and motifs. Written to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of Simon Bolivar´s birth, Penderecki`s Viola Concerto sounds mournful,
like an elegy.
For the jubilee, 200th anniversary (2012), of the Viennese Gesellschaft der
Musikfreunde (Musikverein), Penderecki composed the melodic and technically
challenging Double Concerto for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra.
A pioneer of indeterminate music, Morton Feldman (1926-1987) was an
American composer, and his works are fundamentally characterized by extremely
dispersed textures, where the silences between sounds can be as important as the sounds
themselves, lack of structural or tonal organization, and unusual timbral combinations.
From 1970 to 1971, Feldman compose four pieces collectively titled The Viola
in My Life, during a period in which the composer was turning from the indeterminate
methods to a conventional mode of notating pitches, dynamics and durations. The work
consists of four individual compositions, utilizing various instrumental combinations.
The first three, written in 1970 for American violist Karen Phillips, are scored for
various chamber ensembles, and the last, for viola and orchestra, written in response to
a commission for the Venice Biennale of 1971.
A large number of viola works were composed throughout the twentieth century.
The selection of the major works and composers presented in this chapter summarize
the viola`s journey to become a legitimate solo instrument in the twentieth and twentyfirst centuries.
73
CONCLUSION
Traditionally used to fill the harmonies between the cello and violin parts, the
viola is now universally recognized and appreciated by composers as a soloistic
instrument. Violists no longer have to rely on transcriptions and arrangements.
Whereas sixteenth and seventeenth century music almost always included
multiple viola parts, in the eighteenth century the violas were either excluded (trio
sonata) or relegated to an inferior role of merely filling harmonies or doubling the bass
continuo (concerto grosso). However, Stamitz, Mozart, and Hoffmeister provided the
violists with masterworks in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. In the second
half of the eighteenth century, the viola had been getting more attention in the
compositions for orchestra and chamber music compositions starting with Haydn and,
especially with Mozart and Beethoven. In the nineteenth century more and more
composers started writing music for solo viola in a way that took into consideration the
special character of the viola's tone and its expressive qualities. Beethoven, Schubert,
Schumann and Brahms all gave the viola prominent lines in their chamber works, often
as a soloist. Solo music for the viola, however, is relatively scarce in the nineteenth
century. The most notable exception is Berlioz's Harold in Italy.
The three Viola Concertos by William Walton (1928), Paul Hindemith (1935),
and Béla Bartók (1945/49) remain the most significant and often played works, but
many others are available today, giving the violists a big range choice with composers
such as Schnittke, Penderecki or Milhaud. There were also relevant additions to the
viola repertoire by many composers who also played the instrument, such as Rebecca
Clarke and Paul Hindemith.
The development of musical Modernism after World War II was also driven by
the desire to get away from Romantic music, and composers began to experiment with
new musical techniques: first twelve tone series and later the computer algorithm, and
acoustic/mathematical models deduced from analyses of the sound spectrum. All of
these improvements comprised the avant-garde period of the late 1950s-1960s. From
the electronic soundscapes of Stockhausen through the complex constructs of Xenakis,
74
to the vocal scores of Ligeti, there was an explosion of new revolutionary ideas.
However, most of the great composers of the era of European avant-garde music also
took inspiration from ethnic or non-European cultures: Stockhausen and Boulez from
the Far East, Messiaen. from India, Ligeti from African rhythms, and East European
oral traditions, Berio from oral tradition around Mediterranean, Grisey from the Asian
music, Gubaidulina from Russian folk music. The development line of this approach
owes much to the way that Bartók and Stravinsky used ethnic music from their
respective cultural backgrounds to create novel musical expressions.
At the beginning of the 1970s, many composers returned to the music of
previous times in a movement known as neo-Romanticism.
All these new trends in composition revolutionized the course of twentieth
century music and music for viola was not an exception.
The violists of the 21th century have, today, a variety of styles and different
composing points of view that they must be capable to interpret, understand, and
express in order to be successful. One can only imagine what the future of the viola will
bring us, but if this trend continues, many more works will be composed turning the
viola into one of the most important solo instruments.
It must be emphasized that this extremely positive development would not be
possible without the two outstanding viola players Lionel Tertis and William Primrose.
Their contribution to the viola world is today recognized as one of the main reasons for
the twentieth century vast viola solo repertoire. They changed the mentality of many
composers and musicians towards the viola and created a new performing standard for
the violist of the next generations. With their transcriptions, Tertis and Primrose
substantially increased the viola repertoire and showed how versatile this instrument
can be. Other influential performers, such as Lillian Fuchs and Yuri Bshmet were also
vital to the evolution of the viola library. They improved the prestige of the viola as a
solo instrument, and were the inspiration for many new works that are now established
in the viola repertoire. Moreover, new generations of solo violists will certainly
continue to emerge.
75
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Henry BARRET, The Viola: Complete Guide for Teachers and Students, Tuscalosa
1978.
David BOYDEN / Ann WOODWARD, Viola, in: Stanley SADIE / John TYRREL
(ed.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, vol. 26, New York
2001, P. 687-95.
Teresa CASCUDO, The Choral Music of Fernando Lopes-Graça (2006); URL:
http://www.music.gulbenkian.pt/main.html (Accessed Jan. 22. 2014).
Jean CHANG, The role of Alfred Schnittke's Viola Concerto in the Development of
the Twentieth Century Viola Concerto. Doctoral Dissertation. The University of
Arizona, USA 2007.
Yu-Fang CHEN, Pedagogical Literature for Violists: Selected Studies from Lillian
Fuchs's 16 Fantasy Études and Corresponding Orchestral Audition Excerpts.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Missouri, Kansas City 2013.
Vincent CHEUNG, Notes on Three Pieces by J.S. Bach, Schumann and Hindemith,
in: The Charm of the Viola (2006);
URL: http://www.web.mit.edu/ckcheung/www/musicalwritings.html (Accessed
Oct. 28. 2014).
Su CHIU-CHING, A Performance Guide to Franz Anton Hoffmeister's Viola
Concerto in D Major with an Analytical Study of Published Cadenzas. Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, USA 2010.
Jonathan CROSMER, Analysis of Early Primrose Recordings with Software Tools.
Music History Seminar, May 5, Kentucky 2010.
Liane CURTIS, Program Notes to Passacaglia on an English Tune, in: Women`s
Studies Program, Brandeis University, The Rebecca Clarke Society (1999).
David DALTON, Playing the Viola: Conversations with William Primrose, Oxford
1988.
Dominic DESTEFANO, A Guide to the Pedagogy of Microtonal Intonation in
Recent Viola Repertoire: Prologue by Gèrard Grisey as Case Study. Doctoral
Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, USA 2010.
76
James DUNHAM, The Walton Viola Concerto: A Synthesis, in: Journal of the
American Viola Society, XXII (2006), P. 13-20.
Marshall FINE, The Unfinished Vieuxtemps Viola Sonata, in: Journal of the
American Viola Society, XIX (2003), P. 1-7.
Joshua FINEBERG, Spectral Music, in: Contemporary Music Review, XIX (2000),
P. 81-113.
Molly GEBRIAN, Rethinking Viola Pedagogy: Preparing violists for the chalenges
of twentiet –century music. Doctoral Dissertation, Rice University. Houston, TX
2012.
Daphne GERLING, Connecting Histories: Identity and Exoticism in Ernest Bloch,
Rebecca Clarke, and Paul Hindemith`s Viola Works of 1919. Doctoral Dissertation,
Rice University, USA 2007.
Paul GRFFITHS, Modern Music: A Concise History, London 1978.
Donald GROUT/Claude PALISCA, A History of Western Music, 2ª ed., Gradiva,
Lisboa. 2001.
Robert HASEGAWA, Coherence and Incoherence in Xenakis Embellie, in:
Xenakis Proceedings - Abstracts from the Conference on Iannis Xenakis at McGill
University, Montreal 2010.
Paul LESLIE, Bach as Transcriber, in: Music & Letters, XXXIV/IV (1953), P. 306313.
Soo Mi LEE, Musical Borrowing in Four Twentieth-Century Works for Viola by
Hindemith, Bloch, Bacewicz, and Shostakovich. Doctoral Dissertation, University
of Cincinnati, USA 2010.
Yehudi MENUHIN, La Légende du Violon, Paris 1996.
Libor ONDRAS, Hindemith's Der Schwanendreher: A Fantasy Concerto on Folk
Tunes for Viola and Small Orchestra, in: American Viola Society, XIX (2003), P.
28-33.
Keith POTTER, Minimalism. Grove Music Online. Laura MACY ed. (2000) URL:
http://www.grovemusic.com (Accessed Nov. 2014).
William PRIMROSE, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs of a Violist, Provo 1978.
Simina RENEA, George Enescu`s Concertstück for Viola and Piano: A theoretical
Analysis Within the Composer's Musical Legacy. Doctoral Dissertation,
Southeastern Louisiane University 2011.
77
Maurice RILEY, The History of the Viola, Vol.1, Ann Arbor, Michigan 1980.
Scott SCHILLING, The importance of Transcriptions for the Modern Viola
Performer: A Complete Transcription of Ysaye's Sonata for Violoncello Solo Op.
28. Doctoral Dissertation, University of Cincinnati, USA 2009.
Betsy SCHWARM, John Cage, in: Encyclopǣdia Britannica, 2013; URL:
http://www.britanica.com/EBchecked/topic/88339/John-Cage (Accessed Jan. 15.
2014).
Lionel TERTIS, The Beauty of Tone in String Player, Oxford 1938.
Lionel TERTIS, My Viola and I, London 1991.
François TRANCHEFORT, Guia da Música de Câmara, Gradiva, Lisboa 2014.
John WHITE, Lionel Tertis: The First Great Virtuoso of the Viola, Woodbridge
2006.
78