JAVS Fall 1997

33

in Variations 4 and 6-but has never been clearly confirmed. Here it is presented as quietly reflective (that word again) after the storm and drama of C minor, making a more affecting dose than any grandiloquent peroration could have. It is Britten's remarkable accomplishment that he could weave Dowland's music so seamlessly into his own fabric: he has held a mirror up to his own music and seen Dowland's truly reflected in it. -David Sills Ball State University Notes 1 William Primrose, Walk on the North Side: Memoirs ofa Vz'olist(Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1978), 185. 'John Evans, "Benjamin Britten (1913-1976): a Chronology of His Life and Works" in A Britten Source Book (Aideburgh: The Britten Estate Limited, 1987), 72-73. 1950 was a good year for violists, seeing not only the ap pearance of Britten's Lachrymae, but also of Milton Babbitt's Composition for Viola and Piano, Ernest Bloch's Concertina for Flute Solo, Viola Sola, and String Orchestra, Aaron Copland's Piano Quartet, and David Diamond's Quintet for Clarinet, 2 Violas, and 2 'Cellos. Bloch also began composing his Suite hebrai"quelater that year. 'The program also included Arthur Benjamin's Sonata for Viola and Piano, with the composer at the piano; Bohuslav Martim'l's Three Madrigals for violin and viola, with Manoug Parikian, violinist; and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Trio in E~, K. 498, with Stephen Walters, clarinet, and Britten ("New Work by Britten," [London] Times, 22 June 1950). 'John Evans, "Chronology," 124-25. 'Benjamin Britten, "Composer's Note," in Lachrymae: Reflections on a Song ofDowland for Solo Viola and String Orchestra, Op. 48a (London: Boosey and Hawkes, 1977), iii. 'David Dalton, Playing the Vz'ola: Conversations with William Primrose (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988), 206-207. 'Eric Walter White, Benjamin Britten: His Life and Operas (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1970), 189. 'Benjamin Britten: A Complete Catalogue ofHis Published Works (London: Boosey and Hawkes, Faber Music, 1973), 17, 33. 9 A viola arrangement of this setting of "IfMy Complaints" and of a prelude by Corkine appears at the conclusion of this article (See page 34). The originals may be found in jacobean Consort Music, Thurston Dart and William Coates, eds., vol. 9 of Musica Britannica, 2d ed. (London: Stainer and Bell, 1971), 201. This arrangement is pub lished by the kind permission of Stainer and Bell. 10 Paul Hamburger ("The Chamber Music," in Benjamin Britten: a Commentary on His Works from a Group of Specialists, ed. by Donald Mitchell and Hans Keller [London: Rockliff, 1952], 234) suggests that by using only the first strain of the Dowland song Britten avoids any hint of bithematicism and sonata-style key relationships, which he sees as inappropriate for variations. Given that there is already more than a hint of sonata-style development in Britten's variation technique, however, Hamburger would seem to make too much of a slight concern. It seems more likely that Britten was trying to avoid anticipating the effect made by the second and third strains in the Coda. 11 Sian Lynette· Pouncy, The Variation Concept in the Works ofBenjamin Britten (Master's thesis, University of Wales, 1976), 21-24. 12 This was already noted by a reviewer of the first performance, who thought that Lachrymae was "not an easy piece to assimilate at first hearing without a score, partly because the listener has to wait till the last few bars for an overt reference to ... the main theme, easily missed on its first furtive appearance in the piano bass" ("New Work by Britten"). 13 This was apparently less obvious when Lachrymae was introduced to the American public in a review of its publication in which it was suggested that "someday there may appear a piece by Britten in which the harmonic development will sound as responsible and correct as it is imaginative" (W[illiam] F[lanagan], "Violin and Viola Pieces by Ward and Britten," Musical America 72 [15 April1952]: 24). 14 Paul Hamburger ("Chamber Music," 234) argues that these D~ major chords can be heard as giving a Mixolydian flavor to E~ or as Neapolitan chords in C minor. Any conclusion is moot, since Britten settles on no clear tonic to which to relate these chords. 15 0f course, the whole quotation has been transposed from Dowland's original pitch level to Britten's key. The further transposition referred to here alters the contour of the original melody. 16 Pouncy's opinion to the contrary notwithstanding (Variation Concept in Britten, 17), Lachrymae contains several examples of Britten's use of parody. The waltz, for instance, was one of the most common of the types parodied in Britten's music. The other clearly indicated example of parody is the "march" in Variation 8. Other variations are suggestive, however: the comodo in the tempo marking for Variation 1 may be merely "comfortable" or it may be a witty comment from an ex-violist on practitioners of his former calling. Variation 5 appears to be composed of a most curious combination of hymn and tarantella; Variation 6 begins like a rather off-balance barcarolle; and, as we have already noted, the ground that must be brought to mind by Variation 10-although in fact Variation 10 is not a ground-may have been self-parody on Britten's part.

-------l

!