JAVS Spring 2023

musically was perfection.” Bliss called it “an electrifyingly assured performance.”

principle that proves useful for understanding the Viola Sonata’s first movement. He writes that one way of creating unity in a composition is unity in diversity, the employment not of one idea that spreads, but of two or more antagonistic ideas that are gradually compelled to harmonize and form one complete whole. This implies drama and struggle, and is the formal idea lying behind the first movement of a Beethoven Sonata, for instance. While each movement of the Viola Sonata reflects this approach, the first movement is a masterwork of polythematic composition: it contains no fewer than eleven unique thematic elements. He even introduces a new theme in the movement’s final ten measures. This polythematic approach enabled Bliss to create unique forms for each movement he wrote. Recurring motives and the development of themes hint at a sort of ghostly remnant of sonata form; in actuality, though, Bliss’s thematic kaleidoscope creates a freer, one-of-a-kind form, unbeholden to preset formulas. Many of the themes are motivically related in their essences, but each exhibits its own musical character. While it is beyond the scope of this article to illustrate all eleven, several themes can provide the general flavor of the movement. The opening theme rollicks along with swinging arpeggios that begin the work with breadth and flow (ex. 3). Its falsely-related thirds (the F to F-sharp), however, lend an air of uncertainty and tentativeness.

Critics favorably reviewed the work around its premiere. Hubert Foss, in the four-page article “Classicism and Arthur Bliss: His New Viola Sonata” from the March 1934 edition of The Musical Times, lavishes some of the highest praise for the Sonata found in print: Of the game shot down by Tertis’s inimitable skill, I should be inclined to claim this Sonata as one of the first in importance. For it occupies a place of importance in the career of Bliss as a composer, and unless I am greatly mistaken, a rare one in the annals of modern English music. typically performed in around twenty-six minutes. The first two movements contain the most musical depth, lasting eight and ten minutes respectively. The third movement, “Furiant,” is a virtuoso showpiece, and the final movement reviews and recombines themes from the previous three. In the commentary below, I will use each movement to showcase certain aspects of Bliss’s writing: polythematicism, and the false relation, expressive depth, virtuoso technique, and cyclic structures. First Movement: Polythematicism In the third and final lecture from “Aspects of Contemporary Music” (1934), Bliss articulates a formal III. The Sonata The Viola Sonata is made up of four movements,

Example 3. The opening theme of Bliss’s Sonata for Viola and Piano, mvt. 1, mm. 1–5.

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

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