Bynog David M. - Notes for Violists

Kyle Dzapo, Series Editor

Notes for Flutists

Kyle Dzapo

Notes for Clarinetists

Albert R. Rice

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Oxford University Press 2021

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Bynog, David M., author.

Title: Notes for violists : a guide to the repertoire / David M. Bynog.

Description: New York : Oxford University Press, 2020. |

Series: Notes for performers series | Includes bibliographical references and index. |

Identifiers: LCCN 2020024088 (print) | LCCN 2020024089 (ebook) |

ISBN 9780190916107 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190916114 (paperback) |

ISBN 9780190916138 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Viola musicHistory and criticism. |

Viola musicAnalysis, appreciation. | Concertos (Viola)History and criticism. |

Concertos (Viola)Analysis, appreciation. | Sonatas (Viola)History and criticism. |

Sonatas (Viola)Analysis, appreciation. | Viola and piano musicHistory and criticism. |

Viola and piano musicAnalysis, appreciation.

Classification: LCC ML905 .B96 2020 (print) | LCC ML905 (ebook) |

DDC 784.2/73186dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024088

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020024089

For Paul, who endures

Notes for Performers is a series born of my desire to help musicians connect performance studies with pertinent aspects of scholarship. My favorite theory professor, John Buccheri (Northwestern University), used to say that to know a piece intuitively, technically, and intellectually is to really know a piece. While some may argue that one should simply play from the heart, knowledge can be a powerful tool in strengthening or refining a performers instincts. Additionally, when musicians are armed with knowledge, they can enhance their audiences understanding of compositions. Having served as a pre-concert lecturer for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for more than twenty years, I have had the satisfaction of helping audiences engage more fully with the music they are about to hear. I hope this series will encourage performers to offer written or spoken commentary to enhance their audiences listening experiences.

While all musicians will gain insights from the books in the series, the writing is intended for undergraduate students, perhaps with a bit of professorial guidance. The selection of pieces is admittedly subjective. Each author is asked to identify the best-known compositions written for the instrument. It is my hope that instrumentalists will view each volume as a starting point for connecting performance studies with scholarship and that it will encourage them to explore other works in a similar fashion. Many more works are worthy of inclusion in each volume and, in time, perhaps second volumes may be added with additional compositions, including more recent works that have stood the test of time and become part of a given instruments core repertoire.

There have long been helpful resources available to performers for learning about chamber, orchestral, and operatic works, but similar in-depth information to guide ones understanding of a given orchestral instruments solo repertoire has thus far been noticeably absent from bookshelves. The goal of this series is to fill that open space on the shelf, and my goal as Oxford University Presss Notes for Performers editor is to contribute to the intellectual understanding necessary, as Dr. Buccheri would suggest, for a musician to really know a piece.

Kyle Dzapo

Professor of Music

Bradley University

Historically, the viola has been mistreated and misunderstoodthe proverbial middle child that is overshadowed by its more popular siblings, the violin and cello. Given its unique characteristics, the violas charms may not be readily apparent to the uninitiated. An acoustically imperfect instrument, the viola has no standardized size, resulting in a wide range of tonal qualities depending on the specific instrument. The violas music is principally written in alto clef, which has deterred many individuals from learning the instrument and perplexed musical colleagues as they have attempted to decipher the violas notes in a score. Yet for violists, the alto clef has become an emblem of pride, appropriately dubbed the viola clef. And among orchestral instruments, the viola is unusual in that most of its performers started by learning to play a different instrument: the violin.

As someone who, atypically, started out playing the viola, I have spent many years attempting to understand this fascinating instrument. Not only the instrument itself but all aspects related to it, including its history, repertoire, performers, and critical reception. This book is intended to help violists better understand thirty-five key pieces of the repertoire with the goal of enriching performances. In addition to basic biographical information about each composer, I have attempted to provide as much practical source information about the origins and development of each work as possible. Detailed analyses, a major component of each book in the Notes for Performers series, are also included. Analysis can take many forms, and while my approach has been fairly traditional, I have attempted to tailor my approach to the specific work being discussed. In many instances, I have provided references to alternate analyses (typically in a note). Select chapters also include a list of sources to consult. I consider the analysis of each work not as an end but rather as a beginning. Readers will likely find the analysis portion most useful if they follow along with the score, but numerous charts are also provided to assist even if access to a score is not readily available. The musical snippets in the charts serve as a guide to the specific thematic areas; for space reasons, many tutti snippets have not been included. In most instances, the snippet corresponds to the beginning of the thematic area, but in some instances a later snippet has been selected, typically the violas first significant entrance in that area.

In selecting the repertoire for this book, I first consulted several well-known sources: Representative List of Viola Repertoire, by Donald McInnes; The Viola: Complete Guide for Teachers and Students, by Henry Barrett; and Playing and Teaching the Viola: A Comprehensive Guide to the Central Clef and Its Music, edited by Gregory Barnes. I next visited the websites of many violists, reviewing their repertoire lists. From these sources, I generated a list of fifty works that I then narrowed down to the thirty-five that are included in this book. In making the final selections, I attempted to cover as broad a spectrum as possible regarding time periods, nationalities of the composers, and instrumental combinations (including works for viola alone, viola and piano, and viola and orchestra). Since the Notes for Performers series is largely designed for students, I included works that many high school, undergraduate, and graduate students at every level are likely to encounter. Other books in the series have selected only one work by each composer, but given the prominent place that Paul Hindemiths music has in a violists repertoire, I have selected two works by him: one sonata and one concerto.