JAVS Spring 2019

Example 1. George Rochberg, Violin Concerto, mvt I, mm. 41–43. Notice the similarity between this and example 2.

Example 2. George Rochberg, Viola Sonata, mvt 1, mm. 117–119.

Several other works by Rochberg for solo violin and cello are worth mentioning for anyone interested in exploring more of the composer’s string writing. The Caprice Variations (1970) for Solo Violin might be seen as a distant cousin of the Viola Sonata. No one would confuse the pieces for one another in design or style: one is a mostly straightforward sonata for viola and piano, the other is a set of fifty variations on Paganini’s 24th Caprice for solo violin. Both works, though, could be mistaken for being written in the first half of the twentieth century. The Caprice Variations certainly foreshadowed where Rochberg would go in the Third Quartet, with Rochberg acknowledging an interest in the variation theme in general and the Brahms double set [two books of variations on the Paganini theme for solo piano] in particular. I have paid homage to Brahms . . . where it seemed musically possible I have also paid homage to Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók, Webern, Stravinsky— all great masters of the art of variation—by quoting them as well as commenting on them. 16

Like Music for the Magic Theater, the Caprice Variations were composed during what is typically seen as Rochberg’s transitional phase, which culminated in his new style appearing fully in the Third Quartet. As noted in the preceding passage from his memoirs, Rochberg quoted freely from other composers, as he did in other “collage” or “pastiche” works from this period. Another notable work is the romantic and highly tonal Ricordanza (Soliloquy) for Cello and Piano (1973) . The piece is a “commentary” on the opening cello statement of Beethoven’s op. 102 no. 1 cello sonata. In 1990, Rochberg penned a Rhapsody and Prayer for Violin and Piano for the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis. The piece was a required work for competition entrants to learn, and marks another foray by Rochberg into the world of assemblages of string instrument specialists (following the Viola Congress and Viola Sonata premiere, of course). Other pieces worth mentioning include his Sonata for Violin and Piano from 1988 and his Sonata-Aria for cello and piano from 1992.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 35, No. 1, Spring 2019