JAVS Summer 2000

26

VOL. 16 No.2

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN VIOLA SOCIETY

The two-measure piano introduction and the beginning of the viola melody certainly attempt to secure an F-major tonal center, but the establishment of such a focal point is soon abandoned. Indeed, it is even deliberately thwarted already in the first two measures by the repeated under mining tritone (D-G sharp) in the bass. Tritonal articulation is a hallmark ofRoslavets' compo sitional style. It occurs often as a foreground feature noted in the earlier, incomplete manuscript. It is also articulated within large-scale harmonic plans, such as the tritonal goal of the first com plete Sonata's development section. It continues to surface from time to time in the Second Sonata, thereby linking this work to his previous modernist period. A common connection between all three movements of the Second Sonata and another link to its incomplete and complete predecessors is the focus on sonata form. All three movements are written with this form in mind, although the second lacks a development section. The outer movements are clearly connected by the 9/8 meter in which they are both written, and by the resulting rhythmic patterns and melodic motives that they share. All three movements feature first and second themes as part of their respective exposition sections. In movements I and II, the first themes begin with what could be considered tonic support, while the second themes begin in the dominant region. Conventionally, when recapitulated, these second themes are transposed to begin on the tonic. The final movement departs from this design. Its first theme begins with the tonic support of an F major triad, but its second theme begins on the subdominant, B flat. When it is time to recapitulate the expositional material, theme II is not restated at all. Instead, and quite unexpectedly, a melody that first appears at the end of the development section is recalled. A final link to Roslavets' earlier practice can be found in the development sections of the outer movements. Both feature an interweaving of melodic material from their respective first and sec ond themes in dialogue between the viola and piano. It is especially noteworthy that the begin ning of the development section of the final movement is marked by a change of key signature to two sharps. At its beginning and its conclusion, the section articulates b minor as the tonal center once again, a tritone away from the home key ofF major. The conventional authentic cadences that punctuate tonal centers in Roslavets' Second Sonata for Viola and Piano mark a retreat to a more conservative style of composition. Be that as it may, the Sonata as a whole cannot be heard as an artistic capitulation to political pressures. Rather, it provides evidence that the composer endeavored to be true to his inner voice in spite of external restrictions. Both of his completed Sonatas for Viola and Piano offer their perform ers musical and technical challenges. Belatedly rediscovered, they are welcome additions to the viola repertoire. II: -Anna Ferenc is Assistant Professor of Music and Coordinator of Theory at Wi!frid Laurier University in Wt:tterloo, Ontario. Previously, she has been Assistant Professor at Dalhousie University, and Post-Doctoral Fellow at the University ofBritish Columbia fonded by the Killam Foundation and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ofCanada. She has published andpresentedpapers on Russian modernist music ofthe early twentieth century andparticularly on the work ofNikolai Roslavets. Sponsored by the Association of Universities and Colleges ofCanada and The University ofMichigan's Horace H Rackham School of Graduate Studies, she has conducted extensive archival research on Roslavets in Russia. Her research interests include the work ofArthur Lourie, Alexander Mosolov, and Alexander Skriabin as well as the subject ofmetaphor in music theory pedagogy. NOTES 1 The discography includes, but is not limited to: Glinka, Roslavets, Shostakovich: Viola Sonatas (Yuri Bashmet, Mikhail Muntian. BMG 09026-61273-2, 1992); Nikolai Roslavets: Four Violin Sonatas (Mark Lubotsky, Julia Bochkovskaya. Olympia OCD 558, 1995); Nikolai Roslavets: Works for Violin and Piano (Mark Lubotsky, Julia Bochkovskaya. Olympia OCD 559, 1996); Nikolaj Roslavec: In den Stunden des Neumonds, Konzert for Violine und Orchester Nr. 1 (Tatjana Gridenko, Heinz Holliger, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Saarbriicken. Wergo 286 207-2/WER 6207-2, 1993); Nikolay Roslavets: Piano Music (Marc-Andre Hamelin. Hyperion CDA66926, 1997); Prokojjew Roslavetz: Werke for Violoncello und Klavier (Boris Pergamenschikow, Pavel Gililov. Orfeo C 249 921 A, 1992);