JAVS Fall 2022

Figure 3 and 4: excerpts from Let Not Poor Nelly Starve.

…before collapsing into the crushing weight of the present situation.

Passion and pain mingle as the piece continues and the next idea resolves, inexorably. There is a short piano break where the viola rests, before coming back in on an entrance that’s noted “wail of despair—Nell gets the news?” I don’t know if she was

present at the moment Charles actually died, but the same sentiment applies either way. That moment when it is neither anticipation beforehand nor hurting afterwards, but shock and falling … that – that’s in there too; it’s part of grief and I can only hope I’ve rendered it sensitively. In the final few bars, the viola alternates twice between the sad motive and the nostalgic motive, representing the ephemeral comfort of treasured memories— Let Not Poor Nelly Starve is not a technically challenging piece, focusing more on emotional depth and contrasts than physical pyrotechnics, and is only four or five minutes long. As such, it would fit comfortably on a program with more difficult works as a palate cleanser for the performer. It is also audience-friendly and versatile; the download includes fixed media tracks for performers who do not have access to a piano or harp collaborator— the options include piano, harp, dulcimer, and lute/ harpsichord, all midi-generated. —before concluding, with acceptance, on the sadder of the themes.

And here, either a suffering Charles or a distraught Nell have latched on to a happy memory that has afforded a few seconds of true pleasure—

Figure 5: Excerpt from Let Not Poor Nelly Starve, Wail of Despair.”

Sonya Leonore Stahl is a violinist, a composer, and an orchestral librarian with the Gainesville Orchestra. Let Not Poor Nelly Starve and other

compositions by Stahl can be found at http://waterlily. gumroad.com.

Figure 6: Excerpt from Let Not Poor Nelly Starve.

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