JAVS Spring 2001

VOL. 17 No.1

46

jOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY

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It was common for musicians to shift between differing dances, rhythms, or patterns. Some rhythmic patterns and motives are specific to certain dances and also to the gender of the dancers. Throughout this work, the Brau, a dance for young women, and the Batuta, a dance for men, are alternated. Traditionally in Romanian villages, a village dance occurred every Sunday. As one gender group danced, the other group watched. In between dances, the village historian and sto ryteller would sing as the dancers rested. The parlando element in this piece is used as the story telling device between the dances. There is a constant shift between the two dance themes and the parlando rubato theme, much like the Sunday dance in the Romanian village. Finally, the use of ornamentation found in the viola part is specific to this region of Europe. The composer uses several rhythmic variations, just as a native peasant violinist would in his own interpretation of a dance or melody. The basic rhythm is a dotted eighth note tied to a sixteenth note followed by a series of neighboring and passing tones, which propels the music to the next dotted eighth note. Examples may be found in mm. 45-50, 81-83, 162-167, and 200-203. The main harmonic impetus of each of these passages relies on the dotted eighth note, while the melodic interest is conveyed through the number and the direction of the notes found in the ornamentation.