JAVS Spring 2010

Figure 2. Measures seven through ten from the Sonata for Viola and Piano, movt. I. (Ernst Krenek, Sonate für Viola und Klavier, op. 117© Copyright 2009 by Universal Edition A.G., Wien/UE 34942. Used with permission.)

tion to both repertoires. Sonata for Viola and Piano, op. 117 The Sonata for Viola and Piano, op. 117 was composed in December of 1948 while Krenek was residing in Los Angeles, California. Impressively, the work was completed in a span of just four days and dedicated to violist Ferenc Molnar and pianist Jane Hohfeld—both of whom pre miered the work in San Francisco in March 1949. Violist Michael Mann—son of the renowned author Thomas Mann—took an affinity to the sonata. He per formed it frequently in the United States and Europe, many times alongside the Sonata for Viola, op. 92, no. 3. Krenek’s approach to serialism evolved greatly over his lifetime, and the Sonata for Viola and Piano illustrates the free atonal/serial technique he had adopted by the late 1940s. Written in three move ments, the sonata is brief and inventive and contains the depth and emotional weight that one would expect from the sonata genre. The three movements of the work: Andante, Allegro vivace, and Andantino take the listener, and

performer, on a journey of surpris ing harmonic and temporal arrivals and departures. Perhaps more so than any of Krenek’s other works for viola, this sonata offers more eccentric and unconventional voice-leading. The anomalous lay out of material, along with the ver tical aspects of dialogue between the viola and piano part, make this sonata a true original. It is also important to note the highly con trapuntal writing for the piano in this work (fig. 2). While the über Romantic and bravura piano writ ing in many popular viola/piano sonatas can cause concerns regard ing projection, the writing in Krenek’s sonata does not require the violist to battle against a wall of sound, nor does it require the pianist to enter into the incredibly unmusical realm of “playing less” in order to avoid covering the vio list. Here, Krenek intertwines the two parts around one another in a brilliantly balanced and controlled musical tableau.

One of the most fascinating aspects of Krenek’s serial writing was his ability to throw the entire process out the window when it did not suit him aesthetically. Krenek was never completely satis fied with the Second Viennese School’s insistence on “melodies” that contained exactly twelve pitches without exception. He felt that should the material warrant it, a row could contain ten or even eight pitches. Also unique to his aesthetic was his desire to embrace consonant intervals. This concept will be discussed in greater detail with the solo sonata for viola. The Sonatina, with its original instrumentation (for flute and viola), was premiered on October 22, 1942, at the Teatro del Pueblo in Buenos Aires, with Esteban Eitler, flute and Simon Zlotnik, viola. The work is in three con trasting, albeit short, movements: Allegretto comodo, Adagio, and Vivace, and it offers many interest ing challenges to the dueling musi cians. A varying juxtaposition of contrasting expressions and har monically unorthodox counter point make the Sonatina a strik ingly original composition for flute and viola and an important addi

Sonata for Viola, op. 92, no. 3

The Sonata for Viola, op. 92, no. 3 was composed in Bear Lake, Colorado, between August 12 and August 27, 1942, four years after Krenek’s immigration to the

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