JAVS Spring 2026

A similar pedagogical sensibility appears in the Lullaby by Soviet-Armenian violinist Konstantin Georgievich Mostras (1886–1955), published in a 1977 collection of Soviet works for viola and piano. 42 Known to American audiences primarily as the teacher of Ivan Galamian (1903–1981), Mostras also enjoyed a long career at the Moscow Conservatory and a steady output as composer and methodologist, all leading to relatively more writings on his life. 43 Tat’yana Sukhanova documents his gradual stylistic development, noting increased engagement with contemporary compositional trends alongside a sustained connection to popular music, and preference for Romantic idioms and folkloric materials, mainly of his own culture. 44 The date of composition of Mostras’s Lullaby remains unknown, yet the work clearly foregrounds more conservative features strongly associated with socialist

realism. Unlike Stepanov’s melancholic A-minor setting, Mostras employs the warmer tonality of E major, combined with a familiar rocking gesture and a more agitated C-sharp minor middle section. While these keys pose moderate technical challenges for the viola, the pedagogical focus remains evident: the simplicity of the main melody allows students to concentrate on vibrato, tone production, timbres, and shifting, while the dense, symphonic accompaniment lends the piece sufficient weight for recital performance. Figures 12a–b illustrate both the oriental-inflected piano introduction and the orchestrally conceived recapitulation, where the piano assumes the thematic material. Internationalism The opening piano gesture of Mostras’s Lullaby signals narodnost’ (internationalism) through its unmistakable oriental triplet melisma in the second measure, evocative

Figure 12a. Mostras, Lullaby, mm.1-15, oriental piano introduction and viola tune.

Figure 12b. Mostras, Lullaby, , mm.62-71, symphonic recapitulation, piano plays the tune.

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Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2026