JAVS Spring 2023

Features: A Compendium of Women Composers Arthur Bliss’s Viola Sonata Journal of the AmericanViola Society Volume 39 Number 1

Journal of the American Viola Society A publication of the American Viola Society Spring 2023: Volume 39, Number 1

p. 3 p. 4

From the Editor From the President

News & Notes

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In Memoriam: David Dalton and Margaret Pounds

Feature Articles

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A Compendium of Women Composers by Carolyn Waters Broe

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Arthur Bliss’s Viola Sonata by Andy Braddock Departments

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Development Corner: 2023 Giving Circle Members, DDRC

Development Corner: “I.R.S., I.R.A., R.M.D., Q.C.D.—Oh My” by Tom Tatton Chamber Music: Loki: The Ethos of the Viola by Daniel Orsen From the Workshop: Evolution of the Bow by Dr. Rayen Sakka Health and Wellness: Insights from a Clinical Social Worker by Neesa Sunar p. 41 In The Studio: Incorporating Mindfulness and Neuroscience in Lessons by Sarah Niblack p. 45 With Viola in Hand: Scale Tales by Elaine Fine p. 48 Modern Music: Commentary on Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Lament by Jordan Watt p. 52 Recording Reviews: Debussy|Ravel; Viola Brasil; and Paul JUON by Lanson Wells p. 54 Score Reviews: Jorge Variego’s 18+3 Etudes Review by Kevin Nordstrom

On the Cover: Ricard J. Tovar Viola

Ricard J. Tovar (Castelló, 1964) experiments with various forms of historical cubism, specifically that rooted in the tradition of Picasso, Braque, or Matisse. He usually uses motifs typical of this way of painting: landscapes, nudes, portraits or still life. The drawing, the shape and the composition are also approximations of the same style, in addition to playing with color using a mainly "broken" chromatic range that flees from the stridency of pure colors. His works require the active participation of the viewer, the theme is not closed, the narration is not completely defined, in such a way that the viewer can play and imagine. He flees from any conceptualism in a premeditated way, to recover something fundamental in the aesthetic experience, the sensitive enjoyment, the taste for colors, shapes and textures. He likes "handmade" painting, in which the brushstroke becomes visible and human warmth appears in the middle. https://www.ricardtovar.net | https://www.saatchiart.com/ricardjtp

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

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The Journal of the American Viola Society is published in spring and fall and as an online only issue in summer. The American Viola Society is a nonprofit organization of viola enthusiasts, including students, performers, teachers, scholars, composers, makers, and friends, who seek to encourage excellence in performance, pedagogy, research, composition, and lutherie. United in our commitment to promote the viola and its related activities, the AVS fosters communication and friendship among violists of all skill levels, ages,

Editor: Christina Ebersohl Assistant Editor: Lanson Wells Departmental Editors: The Eclectic Violist: Leanne Darling Development Corner: Tom Tatton Consultant: Dwight Pounds AVS National Board of Directors: Officers President: Hillary Herndon (2023) President-Elect: Ames Asbell (2023) Past President: Michael Palumbo (2021) Daphne Gerling: Secretary (2021) Webmaster Tony DeVroye (2025) Board Members

nationalities, and backgrounds. ©2022, American Viola Society ISSN 0898-5987 (print) ISSN 2378-007X (online)

Ruben Balboa III (2024) Ann Marie Brink (2022) Kathryn Brown (2024) Jessica Chang (2022) Adam Paul Cordle (2025) Christina Ebersohl (2024) Molly Gebrian (2023) Ezra Haugabrooks (2022) Lauren Burns Hodges (2024) Andrea Houde (2022) Kayleigh Miller (2024) Katrin Meidell (2022) Ann Roggen (2023) Katie White Swanson (2023) Steven Tenenbom (2022) Laurel Yu (2023) JAVS Volunteer Kevin Nordstrom AVS General Manager Madeleine Crouch AVS National Office 14070 Proton Road, Suite 100 Dallas, TX 75244 (972) 233-9107 ext. 204

JAVS welcomes articles from its readers. Submission deadlines are December 1 for the Spring issue, April 1

for the Summer online issue, and August 1 for the Fall issue. Send submissions to the AVS Editorial Office, Christina Ebersohl editor@americanviolasociety.org or to

Madeleine Crouch, 14070 Proton Rd., Suite 100 Dallas, TX 75244

JAVS offers print and web advertising for a receptive and influential readership. For advertising rates please contact JAVS Editor Christina Ebersohl editor@americanviolasociety.org

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

From the Editor

Dearest readers, There is a lot of joy with being the Editor of this amazing Journal—the people I get to meet, the different worlds I get to sneak a peek at, the amount of alto love I get to experience on a regular basis.

American Viola Society , or by submitting to the David Dalton Research Competition , musicians are immortalizing something, curating knowledge and ideas for current and future violists to use as a launchpad for their own adventure forward. Our two featured articles, are example of this: with Carolyn Waters Broe’s article researching a “Compendium of Women Composers” that utilized the viola, to former JAVS Editor Andy Braddock’s article on “Arthur Bliss’s Viola Sonata,” highlighting the magnificent and underplayed work. Look into the “Evolution of the Bow” by Dr. Rayen Sakka, and then mix it up with some quirky and exciting new etudes in “Scale Tales” by Elaine Fine; and read on to find so much more on mindfulness, Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Lament, and money management. And as you delve into the world of violists and everything alto clef, I hope all these stories come to life for you as well. Because each of these articles began with a person and an idea. And that idea has now created a ripple effect in the community. No matter how small it may seem, Dr. Dalton would agree that even the tiniest wave for the right reason was worthwhile. And tiny waves can one day grow into waves big enough to surf across. So, keep playing, keep writing, keep researching and crafting and teaching and composing. And when you are ready to send a ripple across the community, my inbox is always open.

I’m a reader, and the more I delve into the captivating world of violists, the more the stories come to life and people become more than just names in an inbox or a mention in a program. It is impossible to express just how profoundly affected so many in our community are by the passing of Dr. Dalton; but even more than that—how affected so many of us are by his life . Not only was Dr. Dalton a phenomenal performer, he was also an advocate for the arts, a curator of viola archives, a scholar, a pedagogue, a writer, and a beloved friend and colleague to so many. To say that his impact is still strongly felt in the community can’t possibly be overstated. As I perused this Journal’s contents, I couldn’t help but think of the amazing scholars, performers, and musicians who are also having their own impact on the viola community—and how that was the goal Dr. Dalton had hoped for when he was Editor many years ago. Whether realized or not, by contributing to the Journal of the Which brings me to Dr. David Dalton.

V/r, Christina Ebersohl Editor

Join the American Viola Society Your membership supports the viola community through performance, education, research, mentoring, publishing, commissioning new works and more. www.americanviolasociety.org/Join.php

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

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From the President

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

In the Summer of 2022, the AVS began a campaign to ensure that the David Dalton Research Competition would be fully funded far into the future with the DDRC Giving Circle . If you have not already done so, please consider joining the Giving Circle to help continue David’s remarkable legacy through this Competition. As the AVS continues to develop additional ways to support our community, I’m thrilled to announce that the first Recording Project album will be released soon. All members will receive a complimentary copy once released—encourage your friends and students to join now so they can received this inaugural album, featuring works by underrepresented composers, most of which had been previously unrecorded. The submission deadline has already closed for the second edition of the Recording Project, the 2023 album, but we’ll be announcing the 2024 project soon—stay tuned! Finally, I’d like to ask you all to save the date for our 2024 American Viola Society Festival and Primrose International Viola Competition, to be held June 19 22, 2024, in Los Angeles, California at the Colburn School. We’d love to have you participate as a presenter, performer, or attendee. The Call for Proposals and Youth Competition Guidelines will be announced this spring, and we hope you'll share this information with your colleagues and students.

As I sit to write this President’s Letter on a cold January day, I’m deeply aware of how our community is still grieving the loss of one of our icons. I was in High School when I first learned of David Dalton through his book, Playing the Viola:

Conversations with William Primrose . I cherished the book then, and decades later it is always at hand in my teaching studio. Since that first introduction to David Dalton, I have learned his scholarship was just the smallest part of his contributions to the viola community; he founded the Primrose International Viola Competition, helped establish the Primrose Viola Library, and has served as President of both the American and International Viola Societies. His tireless efforts have left an indelible legacy for violists around the world. Named in his honor, the David Dalton Research Competition was established in 1999 to encourage and support student research of viola related topics. DDRC award winners often cite winning the competition as an influential point in their development and many have gone on to significant careers in music. The 2023 Dalton Research Competition is open now, with a submission deadline of June 1, 2023; encourage the student scholars you know to consider submitting.

Sincerely, Hillary Herndon

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

In Memoriam

David Johnson Dalton

Dalton’s professorial career was associated for 35 years with Brigham Young University. He greatly enlarged the viola program and was a founder and longtime member of the Deseret Quartet. He performed as well as a soloist and often in duo with his wife, Donna, a soprano. Among his conducting activities, he was music director for 12 years of the Salt Lake Symphony and inaugurated under its sponsorship over 35 years ago the annual Valentine Vienna Ball which continues to be held to this day. On a wider scene, Dr. Dalton was elected President of the American Viola Society, for which he was Editor of its professional journal for 15 years and was later elected President of the International Viola Society (IVS), which bestowed on him its highest honor, the “Golden Viola Clef.” That was only the second time in its 50-year history that the IVS had given such an award. He traveled the world as a performer, lecturer, and amateur photographer, who loved the earth’s beauty and diversity of cultures. Throughout most of his life, Dalton was a member of a number of conservation organizations and a supporter of environmental causes. A devoted member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he served in numerous volunteer capacities including as bishop of his local congregation (ward) and numerous times as a high councilor in the regional faith community (stake). He also taught, including in the children’s Sunday School. He served twice as a full-time volunteer for his faith, first from 1954-1957 in West Germany; second, together with his wife from 2003-2004 in the Bern, Switzerland Temple David married an intelligent, multi-talented, and beautiful BYU coed, Donna Glazier, in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple, August 28, 1957. She was a faithful equal and gracious hostess to many friends and associates who were frequent guests in the Dalton home. Together they raised four children: Alison Dalton (Charles), Chicago, IL; Melissa Dalton (Randall) Bradford, Frankfurt, Germany;

David Johnson Dalton

David Johnson Dalton passed away December 23rd, 2022, from natural causes. He was born January 18th,1934, in Springville, Utah, the son of Oliver H. Dalton, a cattleman and farmer, and Jessie J. Dalton, a woman of the arts. His dichotomous upbringing had him both working herding cows and playing the violin (placed under a Christmas tree as an unwelcomed surprise in lieu of a bike). His developing musical interests eventually took him to the Akademie der Musik in Vienna and the Hochschule für Musik in Munich. At the Eastman School of Music, he earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Violin Performance, but his allegiance to the violin changed under the inspiration and tutelage of the great violist, William Primrose, and Dalton was ultimately awarded a Doctorate in Viola Performance from Indiana University. At Primrose’s invitation, Dalton collaborated with him in producing two books on the distinguished violist’s career and the technique of the viola, plus two film documentaries. Dalton’s own editions for the viola have been distributed by several international publishing houses. Together with Primrose, Dalton co founded the Primrose International Viola Archive at Brigham Young University, the largest and most significant repository of materials related to the viola in the world.

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Hilary Dalton (Tim), Dubuque, IA; and Aaron Dalton (Abigail), Provo, UT. There are 15 grandchildren and one surviving brother, Stephen E. Dalton, Salt Lake City, Utah. David considered the three most fortunate things that happened in his life to be his volunteer church service as a young man in Germany, marrying Donna, and meeting William Primrose.

JAVS is currently collecting memories, thoughts, photos, videos, and scheduling interviews with anyone who would like to share their own David Dalton impactful moments. These combined memoirs from the community will be stitched together to create a centerpiece memorial piece for the Fall 2023 JAVS as a humble token of our enduring respect and remembrance to the Dalton family. If you would like to contribute, please reach out to editor@americanviolasociety.org.

Recognition is gratefully given to physicians and their assistants at Revere Health.

The entire American Viola Society Editorial team celebrates the life of David Dalton and the amazing impact he has had on every single one of us. We are so grateful to his family for allowing us to share his obituary to our membership through the very Journal that David so fantastically built up.

Margaret Gentry Pounds

Music Department, with teaching responsibilities in piano and Music Appreciation. She was a member at First Christian Church of Bowling Green and a proud member of P.E.O. International. A devoted daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, gifted cook, and friend, she will be dearly missed by all who knew her.

Margaret Gentry Pounds

Margaret Gentry Pounds, age 78, of Bowling Green passed away peacefully at her residence on Monday, January 30, 2023 surrounded by her loving family. She was born Saturday, March 25, 1944, the daughter of the late Reuben Emmett Gentry and Hattie Richardson Gentry. She was Valedictorian of the last class to graduate from her hometown high school in Sonora, Kentucky, before consolidation. Mrs. Pounds earned Baccalaureate and Masters Degrees (With Honors) from Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, where she was a member of Mu Phi Epsilon Music Sorority. She taught Elementary Music for three years at the Indiana University Laboratory School and was adjunct professor in the Western Kentucky University

Her memories will be cherished by her loving husband, Dr. Dwight Pounds of Bowling Green; her children, Bryn Gentry Pounds (Stacey) of Overland Park, KS, and Linette Pounds Barkley (Lucas) of Lexington, KY; her beloved grandchildren, Audrey Morgan Pounds, Evan Christopher Barkley, and Madelyn Davis Barkley.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

Featured Article

A Compendium of Women Viola Composers by Carolyn Waters Broe

In recent years, there has been a tremendous interest in learning more about music by women composers. Aaron Cohen lists 2,961 women composers in his International Encyclopedia of Women Composers written in 1981. Since then, new research has revealed a treasure trove of previously unknown women composers and updated research on already established composers. An original manuscript of the Sonata for Viola and Harpsichord of Beatrice Mattei of Florence, Italy (1741) was discovered in an Eastern European library in 1996 by ARS Femina. Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the library was tasked with repatriating them to their original owners. Since the manuscript for the Mattei Viola Sonata was owned by the Knights Templar, the library was about to ship it off when the research group ARS Femina of Kentucky asked if they could make a copy. 1 There was also another recent discovery of a Sinfonia by Maria Antonia Walpurgis (1724-1780) found in the Bach Archive discovered in Kiev, Ukraine in 1999 by Christoph Wolff of Harvard and Patricia Kennedy Grimsted. This archive contains approximately 5,000 scores by 17th and 18th century European composers (C.P.E. Bach, Telemann, Graun, and the Benda brothers, etc. from the Singakademie of Berlin). 2 There are a few women composers whose music was collected in this Singakademie archive of music. Most people are unaware that there were Baroque and Classical women composers such as Élisabeth Jacquet, Marianne von Martinez, Wilhelmina and Anna Amalia Princesses of Prussia, Henriette de Beaumesnil, and Maria Theresia von Paradis. Many more women composers during the 19th and 20th centuries became more readily available knowledge, including Fanny Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Amy Beach, Cecile Chaminade, Louise Farrenc, Emilie Mayer, Rebecca Clarke, Nadia Boulanger, and Lillian Fuchs to name a few. When we truly look at the numbers, we are now aware of more than 6,000 women composers—both historically and still living—

and growing from 70 countries. 3 In honor of the one hundred-year anniversary of women getting the right to vote in the US in 2020, I am sharing my list of music by women viola composers with the American Viola Society members. Several works that were misattributed to male composers are now believed to have been composed by women. Some works by Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel were published under her brother Felix Mendelssohn’s name. Recent editions are making corrections in these publications. 4 Modern forensic handwriting analysis on music manuscripts is also revealing who these works really belong to. Maria Anna “Nannerl” Mozart’s handwriting has been identified in a teaching sketch book of her younger brother Wolfgang Mozart. 5 We know that Nannerl composed for thirteen years between the end of her touring years and the beginning of her married life. What became of all her music? Perhaps one day soon we may get the answer to that question. The American composer, Louise Lincoln Kerr (1892 1977), left a manuscript archive of over 100 compositions to Arizona State University. L. L. Kerr’s Five Character Pieces for Viola and Piano have been edited, as part of my Doctoral dissertation on her string literature and published by Classics Unlimited Music. Her “Etude for Violin and Viola” has been edited by David Bynog and generously made available on the American Viola Society website. Kerr was an expert in composing chamber music pieces, many of which included viola parts. She also composed chamber orchestra works as well as several symphonic works and five ballets. Kerr was both a violinist and violist, who studied theory and composition in 1910 with two Columbia University professors while she was a student at Barnard College for Women in New York. She was one of the first women to perform in the early pre-Cleveland Symphony Orchestra of 1913 as a violinist. She was the piano roll proofreader for Aeolian

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Recordings and later worked in the sound booth helping the conductors trouble shoot mistakes on the early disc recordings. 6 Kerr also studied privately with Prokofiev and possibly Stravinsky. 7 Louise Kerr and her husband moved from New York to Phoenix, Arizona in 1936 for the health of one of their eight children. There she helped to found the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra, the Phoenix Chamber Music Society, the Bach Madrigal Society, the Arizona Composers forum, and the Arizona Cello Society. 8 Many of Kerr’s works were premiered by the Arizona State University Orchestra and the Phoenix Symphony. She was a friend of violin solo artist Isaac Stern who came frequently to perform at her studio in Scottsdale, Arizona.

the state capitol. Her manuscripts are at Arizona State University’s Haydn Library in their archives in the Kerr Collection MS 90 waiting for an army of enthusiastic graduate students and editors to bring them to the public, like so many historic women composers whose music is still waiting in the ivory towers and libraries to be edited and enjoyed.

Figure 2: ASU Concert 1952 Program, Featuring Louise Kerr. 10

In addition, living women composers are creating new works for the viola on an ongoing basis. In developing this list of women viola composers, I discovered many pieces that I had not known of before. I am indebted to Dr. David Sills for his repertory list of works that he has performed by women composers as the inspiration for this list. Additionally, ARS Femina out of Kentucky introduced me to the orchestral works of several women composers through their research and publications. They published several works in a “Treasury of Music by Women Before 1800” edited by William Bauer. This list is not designed as the last word, but rather as an introduction to the subject. A complete annotated bibliography of women viola composers has, to my knowledge, never been written. Some transcriptions have been included in my list; however, the vast majority are original works for the viola. It is important to keep in mind that most of these pieces will be difficult to find or order music. Many were published at an earlier time but may be out of print, especially if they are from the 18th or 19th century. Music publishing operates on a “supply and demand” basis; therefore, it is important to keep asking publishers

Figure 1: ASU Concert 1952 Program, Featuring Louise Kerr. 9

Many of Kerr’s pieces combine melodies of the Hopi Indians and Spanish folk songs with classical genres. Kerr and other members of the Phoenix Composers Society composed in the Southwest Impressionist genre of music. She was also fond of jazz rhythms, especially in her string literature. Much of her music was written in the 1940’s to the late 1970’s after her children were grown. Kerr was given an honorary Doctorate from ASU and is now a member of the Arizona Women’s Hall of Fame near

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 39, No. 1, Spring 2023

to reprint rare viola music. Those violists who are gifted at researching and editing can make a huge contribution to our repertoire by making new editions of these works if they are out of print. Modern editions of major viola works by women composers have been made in recent times, including viola works by Rebecca Clarke, Pamela Harrison, Joan Tower, Vivian Fine, Sally Beamish, Lillian Fuchs, and Sylvia Lee Mann. An exciting recent addition includes a reorchestration of Rebecca Clarke’s 1919 Sonata for Viola as a Concerto for Viola and Orchestra by Ruth Lomon in 2016. For many of the lesser-known and historic viola composers one can look for copies of their music at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP.org), or Edwin A. Fleischer Collection of scores at the Free Library of Philadelphia, and the Primrose International Viola Archives at Brigham Young University, Patricia McCarty. There is also a new database of music by underrepresented women composers created by University of Arizona Viola Professor Molly Gebrian in 2020. It is my hope that this list of women composers and their viola works will inspire many violists, teachers, and graduate students to seek out the undiscovered treasures awaiting them in this music repertoire. Renaissance and Medieval • Hildegard von Bingen: In rubor sanguinis * (voice and viola) (German, 1098-1179) • Anne Boleyn: O Death, rock me asleep * (Queen of England, c.1501-1536) • La Contessa de Dia: A chantar * (Medieval Troubdour, Provence, … 1200) • La Contessa: Canzona I and II (arr. for viola trio) ** (German, c. 1570-1620) Baroque • A Lady (18th century): Lesson VI * • Antonia Bembo: Divertimento, viola trio ** (Italian, c.1670 – before1715) • Sophie von Braunschweig: Three Dances , viola quartet ** (German, 1613-1667) • Sophie von Braunschweig: Brunet Bluhet viola quintet ** • Francesca Caccini: Balletto a Cavallo viola quintet ** (Italian, 1587-after 1638) • Isabella Leonarda: Sonata duodecima * (Italian, 1620 1704) • Beatrice Mattei: Sonata (viola and harpsichord) (Italian c.1740 ARS FEMINA) Viola Music by Women Composers

Classical • Ana Amalia: Divertimento (for piano, clarinet, viola, cello) (German, 1739-1807) • Mary Polly Barthelemon (nee Young): Se pieta da voi non trovo (soprano, violins, viola. and cello) (English, 1749-1799) • Maddalena Lombardini: Duo Sonata Op. 4, No.1 ** (Italian, c. 1735 –1818) • Maddalena Laura Lombardini Sirmen: Six Quartetti • Elisabeth Olin: Lamento (for Soprano, vln., vla., and cont.) (Swedish, 1740-1812) • Maria Theresa von Paradis: Sicilienne * (Austrian, 1759 1824) Romantic • Luise Adolpha Le Beau: Three Pieces for Viola and Piano (German, 1850-1927) • Louise Farrenc: Nonet in Eb op. 38 for String Quintet and Wind Quintet (French, 18904-1875) • Louise Farrenc: Piano Quintet No. 1 in A Minor, op. 30 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double bass) • Louise Farrenc: Piano Quintet No. 2 in E, op. 31 (for piano, violin, viola, cello, and double b • Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: String Quartet in Eb, Piano. Quintet (German, 1805-1847) • Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: Die fruhen Graber (viola, 2 cellos and double bass) • Emilie Mayer: 7 string quartets, 3 string quintets, 2 piano quartets (German, 1821-1883) • Emilie Mayer: Sonata (cello/pf.) (trans. for viola/pf.) • Polly Rupe: Gentle Words * (American,1867) • Clara Schumann: Three Romances , Op. 22* (German, 1819-1896) • Eveline Accart: Sonata (French, 1921- ) • Allyson Applebaum: Soliloquy * (USA) • Grazyna Bacewicz: Sonata (Polish, 1909-1969) • Grazyna Bacewicz: Polish Caprice • Janet Beat: Circe (Furore Verlag fue 2440)(Scottish, 1956- ) • Victoria Bond: Jasmine Flower (Moli Hua ) (1999) • Carolyn Waters Broe: Tokudo – The Gate of Enlightenment (USA,1957- ) • Carolyn Waters Broe: Hora – Dance Around the Pillar of Ashera Violetta Dinescu: Din cimoiu (unpublished) (Romania, 1953- ) • Sarah DuBois: Sonata for Solo Viola (2001) (USA, 951- ) • Sarah DuBois: 3 Movements for Solo Viola (2004) 20 th Century and Contemporary Viola solo

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• Eibhlis Farrell: Persephone Weaving * (Irish, 1953- ) • Vivian Fine: Song of Persephone (USA, 1913-2000) • Elena Firsova: Suite (B&H) (Russia, 1950- ) • Lillian Fuchs: Sonata Pastorale , 3 Etude volumes (USA, 1903-1995) • Barbara Giuranna: Solo per viola (Italian, 1899-1998) • Betsy Jolas: Episode sixième (French, 1926- ) • Barbara Kolb: Cavatina (USA, 1939- ) • Carey Lovelace: Rising * (USA) • Elizabeth Lutyens: Echo of the Wind (English, 1906 1983) • Elizabeth Lutyens: Sonata • Elizabeth Maconchy: Five Sketches (English, 1907-1994) • Elizabeth Maconchy: Variations on a Theme from Vaughn Williams’s Job* • Ursula Mamlok: Composition for viola solo * (German, 1928- ) • Ursula Mamlok: From My Garden * • Thea Musgrave: In the Still of the Night (Novello) (Scottish, 1928- ) • Betty Olivero: Per Viola (Israel, 1954- ) • Janet Owen Thomas: Partita (Maecenas) (British) • Claire Polin: Serpentine (USA, 1926-1995) • Marga Richter: The Darkening of the Light (USA, 1926- ) • Tona Scherchen: Lien (French, 1938- ) • Ruth Schonthal: Four Epiphanies (German, 1924- ) • Judith Shatin: L’Etude du Coeur (USA, 1949- ) • Marcelle Soulage: Sonate in F, Op. 43 (1896-1954) • Hilary Tann: The Cresset Stone * (Welsh, 1947- ) • Phyllis Tate: Variegations (UK, 1911-1985) • Nancy Van de Vate: Suite (USA, 1930- ) • Rozanna Weinberger: Sweet Thunder (USA, 1956- ) • Stephanie Wiener: Sonata in D Major Viola and Piano • Marion Bauer: Sonata (USA, 1882-1955) • Amy Beach: Sonata [arr. Hannay] (USA, 1867-1944) • Sally Beamish: Sule Skerrie (England, 1956- ) • Janet Beat: Equinox Rituals: Autumn (Furore Verlag fue 3020) • Nadia Boulanger: Trois pièces * (French, 1887-1979) • Margaret Brouwer: Two Pieces (USA, 1944- ) • Rebecca Clarke: Sonata (1919) (English, 1886-1979) • Rebecca Clarke: Lullaby (1909), and Lullaby on An Ancient Irish Tune (1913) • Rebecca Clarke: Passacaglia on an Old English Tune , and Untitled Movement • Rebecca Clarke: Morpheus (1917-18), and I’ll Bid My Heart Be Still (1944)

• Tansy Davies: Small Black Stone (British Music Information Center) • Fernande Decruck: Sonata for Viola and Piano (1943) (originally for saxophone also for viola) (French, 1894 1970) • Alma Deutscher: Viola Sonata in C minor (first movement) (2013) (UK, 2005- ) • Eibhlis Farrell: Viola Elegy • Elaine Fine: Tango Mariposa for Viola and Piano , Viola Sonata (USA, 1959- ) • Vivian Fine: Lieder (USA, 1913-2000) • Miriam Gideon: Sonata (USA, 1906-1996) • Janetta Gould: Oh, Can Ye Sew Cushions for viola/horn, piano (Scottish, 1926) • Pamela Harrison: Sonata for Viola and Piano (1946) (English, 1915-1990) • Pamela Harrison: Lament for Viola and Piano (1965) • Betsy Jolas: Quatre duos (French, 1926- ) • Minna Keal: Ballade in F Minor (Corda) (1930) (England, 1909-1999) • Sarah Koehler: Sonatina for Viola and Piano (USA, 2003) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: Five Character Pieces for Viola and Piano (USA, 1892-1977) (Classics Unlimited Music) • Luise Adolpha Le Beau: Three Pieces for Viola and Piano , Op. 26 (1881) (German, 1850-1927) • Elizabeth Maconchy: Romanza (Chester) • Julia Klumpkey: Quatre pièces and Suite No. 2 (USA, ca.1870-1961) • Florence Price: Adoration for violin or viola and piano (USA, 1887-1953) • Priaulx Rainier: Sonata for Viola and Piano (South African/English, 1903-1986) • Eda Rapoport: Chant hébraïque and Poem (1900- ?) • Marga Richter: Aria and Toccata (USA, 1926- ) • Julia Smith: Two Pieces (USA, 1911-1989) • Bernadette Speach: Viola (USA, 1948- ) • Mary Alice Rich: Sonata (USA, 1955- ) • Dame Ethel Smyth: Two Interlinked French Folk Melodies (English, 1858-1944) • Marcelle Soulage: Sonate in a minor , Op. 25 (French, 1894-1970) • Freda Swain: English Reel , and Summer Rhapsody vla/clt. (English 1902-1985) • Tracy Rush: Song (USA, 1955- ) • Judith Shatin: Doxa (USA, 1949- )

• Nancy Van de Vate: Sonata (USA, 1930- ) • Elizabeth Walton Vercoe: Elegy (USA, 1941- )

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• Victoria Bond: Dreams of Flying (string quartet) (1994) • Victoria Bond: Molly ManyBloom (soprano and string quartet) (1990) • Victoria Bond: Duet for flute and viola , (1969) • Victoria Bond: Mirror, Mirror (soprano, flute, and viola) (1969) • Nadia Boulanger: Lux Aeterna (voice, harp, organ, and string quartet) (1887-1979) • Carolyn Waters Broe: Rebirth of the Goddess (flute, harp, and viola trio) • Rebecca Clarke: Three Pieces – Prelude, Allegro, and Pastorale (clarinet and viola) • Rebecca Clarke: Lullaby, Grotesque (viola and violoncello) • Gloria Coates: String Quartets Nos. 1-8 (USA 1938- ) • Gloria Coates: String Quartets – Glissando; Provincial Drum; Mobile; Six Movements . • Gloria Coates: Lichtsplitter (fl, hp, vla, perc. /also, without perc.) • Gloria Coates: In the Mt. Tremper Zen Monastery (2 perc., hp, viola) • Gloria Coates: Transfer 482 (fl, hp, vla, 2 perc.) • Gloria Coates: Variations on “Lo! How a Rose” (org., vi, vla, triangle) • Ruth Crawford-Seeger: String Quartet 1931 (USA, 1901-1953) • Ruth Crawford-Seeger: Diaphonic Suite No. 4 (oboe/ viola and cello) (1930) • Ruth Crawford-Seeger: Suite No. 2 (four strings and piano) 1929 • Ruth Crawford Seeger: Andante for Strings (after String Quartet Slow Movement), (1931?) • Alma Deutscher: Quartet movement in G major: Rondo • Alma Deutscher: Trio in D major (for violin, viola, and piano) (Cinderella Trio) • Margaret De Wys: Raptor (oboe and viola) (USA) • Violeta Dinescu: Ostov I for four violas • Sylvia Glickman: Antigone Speaks, (flute and viola) (USA, 1932- ) • Sofia Gubaidulina: Quasi Hoquetus (viola, bassoon, and piano) (Soviet, 1931) • Elaine Fine: Tango Mariposa (viola, cello and harp) USA, 1959- ) • Vivian Fine: Duo for Flute and Viola (1961) • Pamela Harrison: Quintet (flute, oboe, violin, viola, and cello) (1938) • Pamela Harrison: String Quartet (1944) • Pamela Harrison: Clarinet Quintet (clarinet, 2 violins, viola, and cello) (1956)

Viola and Electronic Tape, and/or Electric Viola • Victoria Bond: Insects for solo electric viola , 1996 • Pozzi Escot: Mirabilis * (USA, 1933- ) • Jean Eichelberger Ivey: Aldebaran (USA, 1923- ) • Thea Musgrave: From One to Another (Scottish, 1928- ) • Ann Southam: Re-Tuning (Canadian, 1937- ) • Diane Thome: Levadi II * (USA, 1942- ) Viola and Orchestra • Grazyna Bacewicz: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra 1968 (Polish, 1909-1996) • Sally Beamish: Viola Concerto No. 1 and No. 2 • Victoria Bond: Seduction and Sanctification, Triple Concerto for Flute, Viola, Harp, and Orchestra, 2007 • Rebecca Clarke: Viola Concerto (orchestrated from her sonata for viola and piano by Ruth Lomon 2016) • Sarah DuBois: Concertino for Viola and Strings • Sofia Gubaidulina: Two Paths (Concerto for two violas) (Soviet Union, 1931- ) • Peggy Glanville-Hicks: Concerto Romantico (Australian, 1912-1990) • Betsy Jolas: Points d’aube (viola and 13 winds) (French, 1926- ) • Tania Leon: Para Viola y Orchesta (Cuba) • Elizabeth Lutyens: Concerto for Viola, Op. 15 (English, 1906-1983) (first twelve-tone concerto) • Marga Richter: Aria and Toccata (viola and strings) (USA, 1926- ) • Thea Musgrave: Concerto for Viola (Scottish, 1928- ) • Thea Musgrave: From One to Another (viola and 15 solo strings) • Joan Tower: Purple Rhapsody for Viola and Orchestra (2005) • Sylvia Mann: Concerto for Viola and Orchestra (revised in 2007) (USA 1955- ) Viola in Chamber settings • Grazyna Bacewicz: String Quartets No. 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 • Amy Beach: Theme and Variations (flute and string quartet) (1916) • Amy Beach: String Quartet, 1 movement, (1929) • Janet Beat: Harmony in Opposites ( alto flute, viola, and harp) (Furore Verlag 4510) • Victoria Bond: Conversation Piece (viola and vibraphone) (USA, 1945- ) • Victoria Bond: Blue and Green Music (string quartet) (2019) • Victoria Bond: Woven for violin and viola (or 2 flutes, or 2 violins) (2005)

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• Pamela Harrison: Septet (clarinet, horn, bassoon, violin, viola, cello, and double bass) (1980) • Betsy Jolas: Remember (viola and violoncello) • Vítezlava Kaprálová: String Quartet Op. 8 (Czech Republic, 1915-1940) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: Etude (viola and violin) (USA, 1892-1977) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: Oriental (viola and violin) (unpublished) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: String Quartet in A Major and string quartet movements. (unpublished) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: Piano Quartets (unpublished) • Louise Lincoln Kerr: Piano Quintets (unpublished) • Elizabeth Maconchy: String Quartets Nos. 1 – 13 • Elizabeth Maconchy: Sonatina (string quartet) • Elizabeth Maconchy: Conversations for Clarinet and Viola • Sylvia Lee Mann: Ancient Odyssey (String Orchestra or String Quartet with optional bass part included) • Sylvia Lee Mann: Celtic Journeys: Suite of the Blessing Moon for Celtic Harp and Viola • Sylvia Lee Mann: Celtic Journeys: Sojourners Suite for Celtic Harp and Viola • Sylvia Lee Mann: Celtic Journeys: Suite of the Homeward Path for Celtic Harp and Viola • Ursula Mamlok: Music for Viola and Harp (German, 1928- ) • Ursula Mamlok: Rhapsody (clarinet, viola, and piano) • Ursula Mamlok: Concertpiece for Four (flute, oboe, viola, and percussion) • Thea Musgrave: Elegy (viola and violoncello) • Thea Musgrave: Lamenting with Ariadne (viola solo with eight players) • Hyo-shin Na: Not the Object Alone (for string orchestra and string quartet) (2008) (Korean) • Hyo-shin Na: Morning Study (for picc./flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, and percussion) (2011) • Hyo-shin Na: Song of One Lost in the Fog (for flute/alto flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano with koto solo) (2009) • Hyo-shin Na: Fellini Dreaming (for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, double bass, harp, and percussion) (2012) • Hyo-shin Na: On a Cargo Ship (for clarinet in B flat, violin, viola, cello, sanjo kayageum , and piano) (2022) • Hyo-shin Na: Quadrangle of Light (for violin, viola, cello, and piano) (2021) • Hyo-shin Na: To the Ice Mountains (for oboe, clarinet, viola, and cello)

• Hyo-shin Na: While Crossing (for clarinet in B flat, violin, viola, cello, 25 string kayageum, and piano) (2022) • Hyo-shin Na: Heavy Sleep (soprano, alto flute, viola, guitar) (2007) • Hyo-shin Na: Ten Thousand Ugly Ink Blots (for string quartet) (2006) • Hyo-shin Na: Fixed Stars (for string quartet) (2005) • Hyo-shin Na: This Rain (for viola and guitar) (2004) • Hyo-shin Na: Ocean/Shore 2 (clarinet, violin, viola, and cello) (2003) • Hyo-shin Na: Song of the Beggars II (string quartet, a-jaeng, changgo , percussion) (1999) • Hyo-shin Na: Chichangpulgong II ( kayageum, taegeum, changgo , clarinet, viola, cello) (1999) • Hyo-shin Na: Song of the Beggars (string quartet) (1998) • Hyo-shin Na: Transcription (string quartet, percussion) (1997) • Hyo-shin Na: The Music (viola, guitar) (1988) • Dora Pejačević: Impromptu , for piano quartet, Op. 9b (1903; arrangement of Op. 9a) (Croatia, 1885-1923) • Dora Pejačević: Quartet in D minor, Op. 25 (violin, viola, cello, and piano), (1908) • Dora Pejačević: String Quartet in F major, Op. 31 (1911; lost) • Dora Pejačević: Piano Quintet in B minor, Op. 40 (2 violins, viola, violoncello, and piano) (1915–1918) • Dora Pejačević: String Quartet in C major, Op. 58 (1922) • Florence Price: String Quartet No. 1 in G Major (USA, 1887-1953) • Florence Price: String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor • Florence Price: Piano Quintet in E Minor • Florence Price: Piano Quintet in A Minor • Florence Price: Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for String Quartet • Florence Price: Spring Journey (two violins, viola, cello, double bass, and piano) • Judith Shatin: My Glyph (viola, string quartet and piano, also for string orchestra) • Dame Ethel Smyth: Variations on “Bonny Sweet Robin” (flute, viola, and piano) • Joan Tower: In Memory , string quartet • Joan Tower: Incandescent , string quartet • Joan Tower: Night Fields, string quartet • Joan Tower: Turning Points (clarinet, 2 violins, viola, violincello) • Hilary Tann: Duo for Oboe and Viola *

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• Gwyneth Walker: Three American Portraits, String Quartet (USA, 1947- ) • Debra Zae-Munn: Interface (viola and marimba) (1953- ) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: String Quartet No. 1 (1974) (USAS, 1939 - ) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Chamber Symphony (flute, clarinet, violin, viola, cello, and piano) (1979) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Divertimento (flute, clarinet, violin, and cello) (1983) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Double Quartet for strings (1984) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: String Quartet No. 2 (1998) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Quintet for alto saxophone and string quartet (2007) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Septet for piano trio and string quartet (2008) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Quintet for violin, viola, cello, double bass, and piano (2010) • Ellen Taaffe Zwilich: Voyage (String Quartet No. 3) (2012) Etudes for Viola • Lillian Fuchs: 12 Etudes, Fifteen Characteristic Etudes, 16 Fantasy Etudes Viola and Voice • Victoria Bond: Molly ManyBloom (soprano and string quartet), 1990 • Victoria Bond: Mirror, Mirror , (soprano, flute, and viola), 1969 • Gloria Coates: Cantata da Requiem (Soprano, piano, viola, cello, 2 perc.) • Pozzi Escot: Bels Dous Amics (mezzo-soprano, oboe, and viola) (USA, 1933) • Deborah Kavasch: Abelard (soprano and viola) (USA, 1949- ) • Eibhlis Farrell: The Lovesong of Isabella and Elias Cairel (soprano, oboe, viola) • Pamela Harrison: The Kindling of the Day (voice and string quartet) (1952) • Ruth Lomon: Five Songs after Poems/William Blake (voice, vla) (Canada, 1930) • Myriam Lucia Marbé: Na Castelloza (mezzo-sop., oboe, viola) (Russian, 1931- ) • Patricia Morehead: A Chantar (mezzo-soprano, oboe, and viola) (USA) • Wilhelmina Princess of Prussia: Cavatinen : short songs (voice, strings, harpsichord) (German, 1709-1758) • Nancy Van de Vate: Six Etudes • Stephanie Wiener: Six Etudes

• Netty Simon: Songs for Wendy (voice and viola) (USA, 1913-1994) • Naomi Stephan: Na Maria (mezzo-soprano, oboe, and viola) (USA, 1938- ) • Gwyneth Walker: The Golden Harp for Chorus and String Quartet * Works composed for, premièred by, or arranged by Dr. David Sills ** Treasury of Music By Women Before 1800 edited or arranged for viola ensembles by William Bauer, ARS FEMINA editions Dr. Carolyn Waters Broe is an American violist, conductor, and composer, and has been the featured soloist with orchestras in California and Arizona. She has made several CD recordings and performed with numerous celebrities. Footnotes: 1 Mattei, Beatrice. Sonata per Viola e Cembalo (1740). Ars Femina, Louisville, Kentucky, 1993. 2 Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. Die Bach-Sammlung aus dem Archive der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, Supplement II- Kat alog und Einfuhrung zur Mikrofiche-Edition, Bearbeitet von Axel Fischer und Matthias Kornemann . K. G. Saur Verlag, Munchen, Germany, 2003. 3 Cohen, Aaron I. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers . 2nd edition, Books & Music (USA) 1987: 1151. 4 Perlman, Jonathan. “Mozart’s sister ‘composed works used by younger brother’.” Telegraph.co.UK, Sept. 7, 2015. 5 Broe, Carolyn. The String Compositions of Louise Lincoln Kerr: Analysis and Editing of Five Solo Viola Pieces . Ari zona State University Press (2001): 267. 6 The information on the two Columbia University pro fessors is from Donald Messer, “Louise Lincoln Kerr,” e-mail from Barnard College from Associate Registrar, dmesser@Barnard.edu, Barnard College, New York, 11 June 2001; page 5 of Broe Dissertation. 7 I interviewed Kerr’s violin student Diane Sullivan of the Phoenix Symphony, who stated that Kerr studied with Prokofiev and Stravinsky, which I documented in my 2001 doctoral dissertation. Kerr met Prokofiev, Stravinsky, and Gershwin at Aeolian Records where she worked in the 1920’s. That was in an oral history in the ASU archives Kerr Collection. She was proofing piano rolls at Aeolian, so a lot of famous pianists came through there.

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8 Portnoff, Collice. “Oral History of Louise Lincoln Kerr.” Transcript. Department of Archives and Manu scripts, University Libraries, Arizona State University; Tempe, AZ. 9 ASUConcert Program featuring Louise Kerr’s Enchant ed Mesa and accompanying program notes, April 30, 1952, published with permissions from Arizona States University, University Archives. 10 ASU Concert Program featuring Louise Kerr’s premiere of Suite for Orchestra March 14, 1952, published with permissions from Arizona States University, University Archives. Collections Edwin A. Fleischer Collection of scores at the Free Li brary of Philadelphia, Kile Smith. Louise L. Kerr Collection MSS-90 at Arizona State Uni versity, Department of Archives and manuscripts, Haydn Library, Tempe, Arizona. Robert Spindler, curator. Dissertations Broe, Carolyn Waters. “The String Literature of Louise Lincoln Kerr: An Edition of Her Viola Music and Analy sis of her Violin Concerto.” DMA diss., Arizona State University, 2001. Kohnen, Daniela. “Rebecca Clarke. Weg einer Komponistin Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts.” Hausarbeit, Hochschule für Musik Detmold, 1994. Palumbo, Michael A. “The Viola: Its Foundation, Role, and Literature, Including An Analysis of the “Twelve Caprices” of Lillian Fuchs .” DMA diss., Ball State University, 1981. Books Battersby, Christine. Gender and Genius: Towards a Feminist Aesthetics. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1989. Bowers, Jane and Judith Tick. Women Making Music: The Western Art Tradition, 1150-1950 . Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1987. Primrose International Viola Archives at Brigham Young University, Patricia McCarty.

Briscoe, James R. Historical Anthology of Music by Women. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1987.

Broe, Carolyn Waters. Fifty Famous Composers for Kids of All Ages . Scottsdale: Inkwell Books, LLC, 2021.

Cohen, Aaron I. International Encyclopedia of Women Composers . New York: Books & Music, 1981.

Curtis, Liane. Rebecca Clarke Reader. Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2004.

Ebel, Otto. Women Composers: A Biographical Handbook of Women’s Work in Music . Brooklyn, New York: 1902.

Glickman, Sylvia and Schleifer, Martha Furman. Women Composers: Music Through the Ages: Composers Born Before 1599 Vol. 1. New York: G.K. Hall, 1996. ———————————————————. From Convent to Concert Hall. Composers Born 1700-1799 Vol 2 . New York: G.K. Hall, 1996. ———————————————————. American Women Composers, Keyboard Music 1866-1910 Vol 3 . New York: G.K. Hall, 1996. Jezic, Diane Peacock. Women Composers: The Lost Tradition Found. Forward by Elizabeth Wood. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1988. Marshall, Kimberly. Rediscovering the Muses: Women’s Musical Traditions. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1993. Neuls-Bates, Carol, ed. Women in Music: An Anthology of Source Readings from the Middle Ages to the Present. Revised ed. Boston: Northeastern University Press, 1996. Sadie, Julie Anne and Rhian Samuel. The Norton/Grove Dictionary of Women Composers . London: W.W. Norton and Company, 1995. Lutyens, Elisabeth. A Goldfish Bowl . London: Cassell, 1972.

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Williams, Amedee Daryl. “Lillian Fuchs First Lady of Viola.” Studies in the History and Interpretation of Music Vol. 45. Semantic Scholar, 1994. Zeyringer, Franz. Literatur für Viola. Revised edition. Hartberg: Julius Schönwetter Jr., 1985. Web Sites http://www.fourseasonsorchestra.org (information on the Four Seasons Orchestra, Carolyn Broe and Women Composers) http://www.wildcat.arizona.edu (Refreshing the reper toire: Developing a BIPOC and women viola composi tion University of Arizona Viola Professor Molly Gebrian published a database for pieces created by underrepre sented composers in September 2020) http://www.bates.edu (Unsung Voice: Viola Music of Women Composers – Bates College, Kimberly Lehmann, viola and Chiharu Naruse, piano) http://www.cs.bsu.edu/homepages/dlsills/David_reper toire.shtml (lists women composers)

http://www.ascap.com/index.html (composers)

http://www.symphony.org/ (American Symphony Or chestra League)

http://www.astaweb.com/ (American String Teacher As sociation web)

http://www.rebeccaclarke.org/ (information on Rebecca Clarke’s music)

http://amy.music.udel.edu/faculty/murray/course3.html (University of Murry, Kentucky)

http://www.music.indiana.edu/music_resources/women. html

http://members.aye.net/~arsfemin/home.html (publish ing historic women composers)

http://www.hildegard.com (publishing historic women composers)

http://www.kapralova.org (women composers and con ductors)

http://www.iawm.org (International Alliance of Women Musicians)

http://www.viola.com (resources for violists)

http://www.mmbmusic.com (modern composers)

http://music.acu.edu/www/iawm/wimusic/iiswm.html (California State University, Northridge, archives of arti cles and recordings gathered by Aaron Cohen on women composers)

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Feature Article

Arthur Bliss’s Viola Sonata by Andrew Braddock

“The viola is the most romantic of instruments,” wrote Arthur Bliss, several months after the premiere of his Sonata for Viola and Piano (1933). The work stands as a significant achievement in early twentieth-century chamber music for viola and is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the composer and the performer, Lionel Tertis. While it is lesser-known than other contemporaneous works, its aching and twisted lyricism, virtuosic writing for the instrument, and monumental scope make it a commanding artwork worthy of any violist’s attention. Because his continually searching mind was unsatisfied with preset formulas, Bliss avoids the harmonic and formal blandness that plagues the work of some of his British contemporaries, and instead presses the limits of the twentieth-century British tonal idiom. This article explores the world of the piece that Bliss referred to as “tinged with a romantic melancholy”: Bliss’s early writing for the instrument, his collaboration with Tertis, and the inner workings of the Sonata for Viola and Piano.

I. Bliss’s Early Chamber Music and the War Born in London in 1891, Bliss grew up amongst musical siblings: one brother, Kennard, played clarinet, and the other, Howard, played cello. Bliss studied the piano and continued taking lessons well into his university studies, even though he had long since let go of his ambitions to become a famous pianist. While at the Rugby School as a teenager, Bliss also took viola lessons for one year from a German violinist, Wilhelm Sachse. His teacher, however, was not interested in Bliss as a violist. Upon finding out that Bliss was a pianist, Sachse preferred to spend the lessons reading through Brahms violin sonatas rather than teaching Bliss the viola. Composing gradually consumed Bliss’s musical energies as he went on to earn a BA in history and a Bachelor of Music from Pembroke College, Cambridge in 1913, before enrolling in the Royal College of Music. He studied there for nearly a year before the outbreak of World War I in August 1914. We can already see Bliss’s fondness for the viola in some of his earliest surviving chamber music. Between 1914 and 1915, the 23-year-old composer completed two chamber works: the String Quartet [no. 1] in A major (1914) and the Piano Quartet in A minor (1915). Both were performed during the war years. The string quartet received its public premiere on June 9, 1914, with Bliss’s brother playing cello, and the premiere of the piano quartet occurred on April 20, 1915, during the War Emergency Concert in London, featuring Lionel Tertis on viola. While Bliss was serving in France, his father arranged for Novello to publish both works. After the war, Bliss withdrew the unsold copies and had the plates destroyed for both works. There is scant documentary evidence for the decision, but it can be easily understood when considering the trauma Bliss endured during the war. Bliss enlisted on August 6, 1914, two days after the beginning of the war. His years in the war were punctuated by moments of valor, injury, personal loss,

Figure 1. Arthur Bliss, by Gordon Anthony, 1937.

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