JAVS Spring 2023

Figure 7 spells out the tones in the piano and viola lines. While the introduction provides chords that Perkinson uses throughout the piece, it does not line up coherently with other sections in the Lament , as shown in Figure 6. In addition to setting up the method Perkinson uses throughout this piece, the C Major chord in mm. 6 generates a IV-I progression in the piano. While one can accept this as establishing a key, this piece contains two aurally obvious chords, this being the first while the other appears at the end. While these two chords appear in root position (with the first appearing in treble alone), so does the extended EbM9 chord in Figure 7. A V-I progression would more appropriately establish the key. The latter chord that recognizes the puzzling key center appears in the coda.

Harmony Adolphus Hailstork, who also studied with Vittorio Giannini, composed a work called Two Romances for Viola and Orchestra , which is similar to Perkinson’s Lament . Both works use extended chordal harmony. Figure 5 spells out the extended chordal harmony in mm. 11-12, 13, and 14. Similarly, Figure 6, spells out the extracted measures’ chordal harmony. While occasionally omitting a chordal note, presumably to lighten the texture, the same technique in Hailstork’s Two Romances can be seen in Perkinson’s Lament .

In the Lament’s ninth measure, the note in parentheses indicates a change in chord quality in the measure’s second half. While this changes the chord’s quality, audience members would find this imperceptible considering the prominent moving lines in the viola and treble piano parts. Both pieces adhere to vertical chordal harmony rather than voice leading. In Figures 5 and 6, one can see the music theory’s horizontal ambiguity. While pleasant to listen to, the composition makes no attempt to hold the same pitch across passages. The quartal harmony Perkinson presents in Figure 6 in the piano contributes to the open sound he achieves, though mm. 7-8 atypically steps down in the according to tonal theory. Here, Perkinson exhibits another moment he takes harmonic preference over voice leading. Figure 5. Hailstork Two Romances for Viola and Orchestra, mm.11-14.

Figure 7. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, mm.1-6.

The coda ends on a G major chord, with the viola on the fifth scale degree, as seen in Figure 8. This imperfect authentic cadence may be Perkinson’s attempt at a Picardy third given the key’s obscurity and the piece’s dark title. Expanding on the key obscurity, while Perkinson uses extended chords exclusively (given one or two exceptions) the piece ends on a major triad. Based on this and previous content that displays a IV-I motion in the piano, while not heard or ending in the key, it can be said the Lament roughly functions in C Major. Without referencing earlier in the piece, it ends in a stereotypically “happy” fashion.

Figure 8. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, mm.40-42.

Figure 6. Perkinson Lament for Viola and Piano, mm.7-9.

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