VOCAL LYRICISM IN THE VOICE OF THE VIOLA

Abstract

This dissertation performance project explores how the interpretation of instrumental music can be influenced and informed by the vocal repertoire of various composers throughout music history. The first recital draws comparisons in compositional style by pairing an instrumental work with a piece of vocal chamber music by the same composer. The first pairing includes two pieces by Johannes Brahms; Zwei Gesänge for Alto Voice, Viola, and Piano, Op. 91 and Sonata in E flat Major for Viola and Piano, Op. 120, No. 2, while the second pairing features two pieces by Frank Bridge; Three Songs for Medium Voice, Viola, and Piano and Allegro appassionato and Pensiero for Viola and Piano. The second recital considers how text can inform phrasing and other aspects of interpretation with transcriptions for the viola that were originally written for voice. The first half of the recital features two songs by John Dowland, Flow My Tears and If My Complaints Could Passions Move, which influenced Benjamin Britten to write his Lachrymae, reflections on a song of Dowland for Viola and Piano, Op. 48. The second half of the recital introduces the music of Franz Schubert, first with his Sonata in A minor, “Arpeggione”, for Viola and Piano, D. 821, followed by four songs, Wanderers Nachtlied, D. 768, Die Forelle, D. 550, Der Tod und das Mädchen, D. 531, and Ständchen, D. 957, which later influenced him to write several of his instrumental works. The third recital presents works that were directly inspired by the vocal styles of various cultures and religions around the world. The first half explores the cantorial style of the Hebrew tradition as interpreted through works of two Jewish composers; Joseph Joachim’s Hebrew Melodies On Poems of Byron for Viola and Piano, Op. 9 and Ernest Bloch’s Suite Hébraïque for Viola and Piano. The second half begins with the evolving style of twentieth-century France with Charles Martin Loeffler’s Quatre Poëmes for Mezzo Soprano, Viola, and Piano, Op. 5, and ends with a snapshot of Russian culture represented by Sergei Rachmaninoff’s Vocalise, Op. 34, No. 14, a song originally written for voice without text.