JAVS Spring 2020

The second themes also use a similar repeated note figure indicated by staccato dots under a slur. Dvořák’s figure is near the end of the phrase, and Forsyth’s begins the phrase, but in both, the halting repeated note effect helps change the mood for the second theme by slowing down the motion (exs. 3 and 4). The written-out cadenzas in both works use many broken chords, and triple/quadruple-stops before trilling into a section of melodic double stops. In Forsyth’s concerto, this leads to the recapitulation which is darker than the original statement. 14 The works share a very similar harmonic language, even though Dvořák’s concerto precedes Forsyth’s by nearly twenty-five years. In the solo part, there is extensive use of octaves and thirds, but it doesn’t venture to any “exotic asides or adventures.” 15 The second and third movements have less direct comparisons, but the music still seems to be related because of the shared harmonic language and style. Reviewing Lawrence Power’s 2004 recording of the Forsyth concerto, Dave Hurwitz claims

Example 1. Forsyth, Viola Concerto, I. Allegro con spirit, mm. 46–48. 12

Example 2. Dvořák, Violin Concerto, I. Allegro ma non troppo, mm. 54–56. 13

Example 3. Forsyth, Viola Concerto, I, mm. 70–74.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 36, No. 1, Spring 2020

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