JAVS Fall 1998

20

I used to feel hemmed in, now, I feel free. I used to feel uncertain and dissatisfied; today I have incredible energy. For the first time in my life I'm saying what I feel. 11

Rochberg believes that in order to survive, music must experience a rebirth, an era of renewal:

We must stop torturing sound in the name of music and begin to sing again, to dance again, to let music be again what it once was and can be once more-a source of joy, a vehicle of human passions, a channel through which we vivifY our existence. 12

The Sonata for Viola and Piano exemplifies an era of renewal that champions passionate music which draws from traditional tonality:

The task for me and I believe for other composers as well is very clear but also extremely difficult: to reexamine the present in the light of the past and the past in the light of the present; to rejoin tradition and extend it in the light of the experience of the 20th century. Among other things, this means relearning the language of tonality and its forms, as well as subjecting 20th-century aesthetics to a searching critical examination of what is worth continuing. 13 ANALYSIS The Sonata is a neo-Romantic work. Generally the harmony functions around specific notes rather than around specific keys. The work is different from Rochberg's "multi-gestural" works in that it is more consistent in its musical language. While both the Viola Sonata and the Third String Quartet incorporate more than one style, they do it in different ways. The Quartet uses abrupt style juxtaposition; the Sonata uses a more subtle style combination, blending traditional formal structures with untraditional harmonic devices. First Movement Exposition. The first movement is cast in a traditional sonata-allegro form. The exposition presents three themes, the development reworks the themes and the recapitulation restates the materials from the exposition, thus following a traditional formal structure. The viola introduces the Romantic melodic line of the first theme (mm. 1-26) (Example 1). Long flowing phrases and smooth articulation define the theme's personality. The two-measure rhythmic motive serves as the foundation of the melody (mm. 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 18-19, 20-21) (Example 2).

Example 1. Main theme, measures 1-11.

AUqro moderato ( ) :az.l12)

Viola