JAVS Fall 2000

26

VOL. 16 No.3

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY

The question is thus posed: why are these two styles found in the same work? Internal evi dence suggests that D modified the solo part when the new wind parts were prepared. These wind parts, though, retain the old practice of slurring within beat groups and measures. As with the other parts, they were likely copied from a score prepared by Schubert. This would indicate that the soloist-copyist D -was someone other than Schubert, a musician who felt a greater kin ship with the new Romantic style than his composer colleague. Of course, it is also possible that Schubert himself embraced the new style, and himself wrote these changes into the solo part. Schubert's Viola Concerto inC Major similarly demonstrates this duality; phrase markings in the solo part cross barlines while those in the orchestral parts do not. However, conditions sur rounding the preparation of these parts and information regarding their performance are not known to this author. It is possible, though, that a single viola soloist performed both of these concertos. The preparation of a modern performance must necessarily begin with parts reflecting the two styles. It is not possible to use the original viola solo part with the original orchestral parts, for the original wind parts do not exist. 25 The soloist could play the original solo part with the existing orchestral parts, resulting in similar articulation markings. While solving one problem, this solution ignores another: the revised wind parts contain music added after the preparation of the original solo part. The soloist is thus compelled to play at least those additions included in the revised wind parts. This performance would be internally inconsistent, comprising articu lation markings from the first version and added music from the later version. The author recommends performing from parts that represent the most recent version of the Concerto. Such a reading would reproduce conditions very real to musicians of the late eigh teenth century: a mixture of old and new styles. The mixing of styles is common in the history of music, and two instances can be cited here. First, Mozart re-orchestrated Handel's Messiah to conform to the Classical aesthetic. And second, new concepts of sonority were added to original melodies and harmonies by, for example, Respighi in his Gli ucceli and Ancient Airs and Dances and Stravinsky in Pulcine/la. NOTABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF THIS PIECE Although this work contains many exciting and interesting passages, eight have been chosen and presented below. They demonstrate the variety of musical and technical concerns to be found in this work. See the author's biography at the end of this article for more information about the published version of Schubert's Viola Concerto in E-flat Major. This first example is from the development of the first movement (mm. 188-96). Note the bariolage over three strings. It may seem odd that Schubert chose to place this passage on the lower three strings, where projection of tone is difficult. This is necessary, though, because this passage is inC minor, and choosing these strings allows for the repetition of the note G, the dom inant of the current key. I I liB 1h e jJjJJJjJJJJJJJjJI jJJJjj~JJc• IjJjJJJjJ;JJJJJ)Jt jJJJJ]~JjiJ• I alffdem C Saite 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 020 3 0 1 0 II 0

Example 4. Schubert, Viola Concerto in E-jlat Major, I, mm. 188-96.