JAVS Spring 2023

Solomon played the Sonata with none other than William Walton turning Solomon’s pages.

Much to his own regret, Tertis, the dedicatee of Walton’s Concerto, chose not to give its first performance. He later wrote that “the innovations in his musical language, which now seem so logical and so truly in the main stream of music, then struck me as far-fetched.” Later, he cited a specific instance of Walton’s musical style that fell beyond his musical reckoning: “When I received the concerto from the composer I wasn’t accustomed to play F-natural when the octave above was F-sharp.” Whatever misgivings Tertis had in 1929 disappeared by 1933, as exactly the same instance—“F-natural when the octave above was F-sharp”—occurs in the first two measures of Bliss’s Sonata (see example 3). Origins and Early Performances of the Viola Sonata The score of the Viola Sonata bears the inscription “In admiration – to Lionel Tertis,” attesting to the particularly fruitful collaboration between composer and performer. Bliss wrote: I think my Viola Sonata should have Tertis’ name coupled with mine as joint composers, for many times in the course of its composition I would be called to the telephone by Tertis with his viola at the other end. I would hear his voice “On page 17, line 3, do you like this” —I would then hear the tones of the viola—“or this?” He would then repeat the passage. “But, Lionel, I don’t hear much difference.” “But you must,” he would answer; “the first time I took two down bows, etc. etc.” Evidence of Tertis’s influence abounds in the score, from the liberal usage of the viola’s highest range to the flowing lyrical lines to be played in higher positions on a single string. Bliss showed a keen interest in learning about instrumental technique, reflecting that he “had a master class in viola playing quite free, and I am grateful.” He wrote that this collaboration was even more informative than his own individual viola lessons: “I learnt more about the viola by writing a large-scale work for Lionel Tertis than I should have done in a year’s tuition from this performing teacher [Wilhelm Sachse].” The precise impetus for the creation of the Sonata— whether Tertis approached Bliss, or vice versa—is difficult to ascertain. Nevertheless, Bliss writes that

“1933 was marked for me by my friendship with Lionel Tertis, and the completion of a large-scale Sonata for him,” before going on to offer the superlative praise that “through his [Tertis’s] influence the viola, that Cinderella of instruments, was crowned a princess.” Following the aforementioned private premiere, the public premiere occurred on November 3, 1933, at the BBC Broadcasting House as a part of their fortnightly chamber music series. One performance is worth noting due to its cancellation. Bliss presented a series of three lectures in March 1934 entitled “Aspects of Contemporary Music” in which he offered an aesthetic overview and analysis of musical trends, styles, and compositional features. He planned to use his Viola Sonata, as performed by Tertis and Solomon, to demonstrate the idea of motivic development. But Tertis, an avid motorcar enthusiast, burned his hand on his car’s radiator and had to withdraw from this and several other performances. Bliss substituted his clarinet quintet instead, but several paragraphs of his lecture notes on the Viola Sonata survived, published in Bliss on Music (see endnote 1) . Tertis regularly performed the Sonata at least until the 1950s, including a prominent performance with pianist Arthur Rubinstein on January 26, 1935, again at the BBC Broadcasting House. Tertis recounts that a travel weary Rubinstein showed up the morning of the recital and sight-read the Sonata in rehearsal. Despite this, Tertis remarked that “he [Rubinstein] gave an astounding performance, making light of the intricacies and technical difficulties of the piano part, and his interpretation Figure 2. Lionel Tertis, left, and Solomon (Cutner), right, the first performers of Bliss’s viola sonata.

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