JAVS Spring 2019

Figure 2: Formal Map of Rochberg, Sonata for Viola and Piano, 2nd movement

Return of Thematic Material

48) at the same pitch level as the opening and with a similar texture. The most notable change here is the use of register: the viola plays an octave lower than before—allowing for a more resonant timbre—while the piano’s chord spans a mere tenth in contrast to the vast four octaves traversed in the opening measures of the movement. The antecedent phrase of this melody appears one final time during the movement’s coda. This version includes the “echo” from m. 15, but the instruments have traded roles so the piano now follows the viola; the melodic line is supported by a thick accompaniment of rolled chords in the piano’s left hand. As mentioned above, the final four bars of the first A section (mm. 11–14) serve as a moment of unification, the first spot in the movement where both instruments come together in agreement. The same collaborative gesture happens in m. 44, except with subtle alterations to the dynamic markings. The other two corresponding locations (m. 23 and m. 56), however, are transformed from a shared gesture to a moment of solo display. In m. 23, the piano comes into the spotlight, absorbing all of the textural components into his own part. The viola rests, and then enters with a shimmering, intricate accompaniment. The final appearance of this moment

Each time the A material returns brings a new texture and relationship between instruments. In m. 15, the melody begins as an inner voice in the piano and is echoed a measure later and an octave higher by the viola. The viola quickly compresses the melody, so that she ends up only a single eighth note behind the piano by m. 17. The most dramatic version of the antecedent phrase appears in m. 36: not only is the melody supported by the piano’s flowing triplet-sixteenth-note accompaniment, it also appears at two different pitch levels (ex. 8). Although the viola initially seems to play the role of the melody here, it is actually the piano who states the melody at its original pitch level (in relation to the new pitch center), a seventh above the bass; the viola’s melody moves in parallel fourths above the piano. Notably, at this pitch level the viola’s statement of the melody implies a pitch center that matches that of the piano’s accompaniment (G), perhaps alluding to resolution of the conflict implied at the opening of the movement. During the consequent phrase (mm. 40–43), the viola joins with the left hand’s triplet sixteenths, leaving the melody only in the piano’s right hand at the “proper” pitch level. The melody appears again in the last A section (m.

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