JAVS Spring 2013

Many had strong feelings about religion, politics and political candidates, the environment and the perils of climate change, war, 9/11, the economy, LGBT issues, and civil rights. Over time I have inferred that the “Millennial Generation” is not as apathetic as we were once believed to be. The pieces and composers that I intend to bring to your attention, I introduce chiefly because of their contributions to the viola repertoire of the twenty first century. It is not my intention to introduce these composers and their works with the goal of changing one’s political inclinations. However, the nature of the works from these composers is political and must be approached as such. It is largely up to the performer to determine how to program such pieces as they see fit, particularly whether these pieces should be embedded in a more generalized recital setting.

Conservatory, and university of Colorado, Boulder, with Theodore Antoniou, Robert Cogan, and Lee Hyla, among others. His works have been performed and championed by the Playground Ensemble, the Eppes Quartet (in residence at Florida State university), the Laurel and Providence String Quartets, and Alarm Will Sound. Both Green and his works have been well received throughout the world. Green has become a passionate proponent for patri otic music, emphasizing the point that America’s his toric texts—the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Gettysburg Address—are not the exclusive property of either end of the political spectrum or of any one class or race of people. His 2008 work Dona Nobis Veritatem , for soprano, viola, and piano borrows from the Preamble of the uS Constitution, and each of the following movements is set around the ten amendments that make up the Bill of Rights. Dona Nobis Veritatem was first pre miered in 2008 on a shared recital at New England Conservatory with the composer at the piano, Ashleigh Gordon on viola, and Ceceilia Allwein as soprano. 6 In this work, Green ably brings about fan fares and changes the character of each movement as the nature of each amendment unravels. The Preamble, which comprises the first movement, can be revealed as one such fanfare, opening with the soprano imitating a heralding call of a trumpet, recalling a Handel-esque recitative. The second movement, the “Declaration of Independence: one,” illuminates a scrawling of sixteenth notes beamed in groups of four in the viola, opposite groups of five in the right hand and three in the left hand of the piano (ex. 1). It is as if Green is imitating the calli graphic nature of Thomas Jefferson’s handwriting. Green is often explicit in his directions to the sopra no, urging that the text, “When in the course of human events,” be resolute and marcato . Contrast this to the movement associated with the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights (Movement IV), which asks the soprano to be molto marcato and robotic, as she hammers out the text, “A well regulat ed militia being necessary to the security of a free state the right of the people to keep and bear arms”

Anthony R. Green

Anthony R. Green

Born in Arlington, Virginia, and raised in Providence, Rhode Island, Anthony R. Green is a composer who has been a champion for the viola. He has studied at Boston university, New England

J OuRNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETy 58