JAVS Summer 1997

18

It has been not only Lionel Tertis but also numerous other violists who have played Vaughan Williams's Suite since its first perfor mance in 1934. With its variety of musical atmospheres, technical challenges, and accessi bility for both performers and audience, it has become a staple of the viola repertoire. Whether performed in its entirety or as selected movements, the work ably demon strates many facets of Vaughan Williams's style and is certainly deserving of its continued popularity. William A. Everett is assistant professor ofmusic at Washburn University in Topeka, Kansas, where he teaches music history, music theory, and applied viola. He holds degrees from the University of Kansas (Ph.D.), Southern Methodist Universtiy (M.M.), and Texas Tech University (B.M). His articles have appeared in American Music, Sonneck Society Bulletin, and Opera Quarterly. His viola teachers include Susan Schoenfield and Barbra Hustis. He is a member of the Washburn University Faculty String Quartet and is associate principal violist ofthe Topeka Symphony Orchestra.

of Holst and Elgar, both of whom were also represented on the program in Ballet Music from "The Perfect Fool" and Cockaigne Overture respectively. The program . . . has the distinction of introducing a new work by Vaughan Williams, a suite for viola and small orchestra written, it seems scarcely neces sary to say, for Mr. Lionel Tertis, who in turning the viola into a virtuoso's instru ment has reconciled English composers to instrumental virtuosity. The new suite is very much Tertis's own and his instru ment's (it would be unthinkable trans ferred to violin or violoncello), yet it is also the composer's own in every detail of its design and phraseology.... Seven short movements follow the prelude, and recall various phases of his folk-lore and folk-dance interests.... The whole is a most engaging set of miniatures, and throughout, though the character of the viola seems the chief motive, the delicate colouring of the orchestral background contributes essen tial and subtle beauties. It is music to which one must listen for every jot and tittle of its expression. It does not hurl itself at one's ears as Holt's [sic] ballet music does, or as Elgar's ever young "Cockaigne" overture (the final piece on this programme) does. It is well that it gets two performances on consecutive nights straight away. Mr. Tertis will no doubt see to it that it gets many more. 20

NOTES

1 Hugh Ottaway, Vaughan Williams (London: Novello and Company, 1966),7. 2Wilfred Mellers, Vaughan Williams and the Vision of Albion (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1989), 107. 30 xford University Press published a viola-piano vet;- sion of the Suite in 1936 and a full orchestral score in

Please patronize our

JAVS advertisers, who help make this publication possible Composers and publishers should submit new works to the editor for possible reviews in ]AVS and deposit in PIVA.