JAVS Fall 2022

Figure 1: Sonata No. 4, mov. 1, Original.

Figure 2: Sonata No. 4, mov. 1, Viola Transcription.

set of six sonatas for flute were dedicated to the Margrave of Bayreuth who was an amateur flute player. These sonatas were published the same year the Academy was established, 1756. In the dedication she refers to herself as Virtuosa di Musica di Camera for the Margrave Court. Transcribing the Six Sonatas for Flute The sonatas are not overly di cult; in fact, they are frequently referred to in flute literature as typical in almost an apologetic or derogatory way. However, since violists have very little original repertoire from this period, I thought it would be interesting to transcribe them for solo viola. The general idea was to keep the melody (flute line) intact and add as much of the continuo part as possible

to maintain the harmonic integrity of the piece. This has proven to be a bigger task than I had originally thought, but currently I have transcribed the fourth and fifth sonatas. Some of the more complex involve combining a progression in the bass line with a repeating sequence in the melody. Sometimes it was just a matter of adding a bass note to the corresponding note of the melody. The bass note value isn’t the same as the original, but the listener still gets a sense of the progression. Although these passages look relatively simple on paper, executing all the double stops sometimes requires unorthodox fingerings (2nd position is your friend!).

Figure 3: Sonata No. 5, mov. 3, Original.

Figure 4: Sonata No. 5, mov. 3, Viola Transcription.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 38, No. 2, Fall 2022