JAVS Spring 2013

Example 1. Leo Sowerby, Poem (Theme A), mm. 1–5, organ part.

Example 2. Leo Sowerby, Poem (Theme B), mm. 60–64, viola part.

Example 3. Leo Sowerby, Poem (Theme C), mm. 106–9, organ part.

Fluid tonal centers and freely chromatic lines never stray far from a tension-release, dissonant-consonant feeling. Poem ends on a satisfying C-sharp-major chord. Two other works by Leo Sowerby ought to be men tioned: the shorter, more accessible Ballade , for English horn and organ, with an alternative viola part, and his Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, likewise with an alternate viola part.

2010 International Viola Congress in Cincinnati. Repertoire included: Sonata in D Major, BWV 1028 by J. S. Bach, Five French Dances by Marin Marais, Sonata da Chiesa for Viola and Organ by Daniel Pinkham, and Three Hymns for Viola and Organ by John Weaver. Violist Paul Doktor (1919–1989) and organist Marilyn Mason recorded Ernest Bloch’s Meditation and Processional , Servaas de Coninck’s (seventeenth century) Sonata in D Minor, William Flackton’s Sonata in G Major, G. F. Handel’s Minuetto, Marin Marais’s Theme and Variations , G. Tartini’s Andante , and Leo Sowerby’s Ballade on the Mirrosonic Records label (currently unavailable).

Companion pieces for programming:

Carol Rodland, Associate Professor of Viola at the Eastman School of Music, and her sister, Catherine Rodland, organist at St. Olaf College, performed a sterling recital of viola and organ repertoire at the

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