JAVS Spring 2024

would produce a resonance comparable to a violin or a cello, while also giving it dimensions that would make it comfortable to play. 41 While some of these experimental construction techniques have gained some traction, violas still fail to have one standardized size or design. However, each effort has made at least a small contribution to the interest in the resonance and sound of the viola. 42 The viola is an evolving instrument, characterized by compromise. In fact, many musicians appreciate the unique timbre of this imperfect instrument. These so-called flaws result in qualities seen on no other instruments in the string family and provide composers with an essential tool in the coloring of their works. Loving an Unloved Viola: Robert Cade Instrument No. 21 I first learned about the larger Cade collection viola, made by Gino Cavaceppi, in the spring of 2022. Since it’s such a large instrument, it’s not advertised to violists at UF as a legitimate option for daily playing. Yet, the luthier maintaining the Cade collection, Amelyse Arroyo, showed me both of Cade’s violas. She explained that the two violas in the Cade collection were made by successful craftsmen in Alachua County and she suggested that Cavaceppi was a student of Reed. To be frank, we both guffawed at how large the Cavaceeppi viola was. I later learned about the fantastic sound a large viola could produce and felt inspired to play this particular instrument. Although I knew this instrument could never be my primary instrument, in that I played it every day, I was determined to find an opportunity to perform on it before I graduated from UF. Commissioning Soliloquy To assist in showcasing a larger Cade collection viola, I commissioned a piece from a close friend, composer, and string instrumentalist, Emelia Ulrich. She completed the commission with Soliloquy , a solo viola work. Aside from considering the physical limitations of the instrument, I intentionally eschewed offering my own personal creative wishes or goals for this piece. It was important to me to not interfere with Ulrich’s creative process.

Ulrich describes Soliloquy as an introspective work for herself. She wanted to capture the feeling of singing to oneself. In her early stages of composing, she often records a short, hummed melody into her phone and builds from there. She felt that this exact sentiment was fitting for this perhaps lonely and unloved instrument. In her program notes, Ulrich wrote:

The sheer size of a 17-inch viola also lends itself to a certain style of composing, if only just to hear the resonance it is capable of producing, so in a sense I wrote a song for a violist to play for the mere enjoyment of hearing their instrument sing to itself. 43

One of the pleasures of working with a living composer on this project was being able to give feedback about techniques as they applied to this unusual instrument. We agreed that a slow tempo would be ideal for this piece, so I would have time to accurately reach notes without straining my hand. In the early stages of composing, Urlich and I discussed the feasibility of certain figures she had sketched, keeping some and reworking others. The piece ultimately saw several adjustments, noted in my personal score, before its first public performance. For example, we placed fermata rests before sections with extremely high positions, which allowed me to find the correct hand position and pitch.

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 40, No. 1, Spring 2024

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