EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY VIOLA MUSIC FROM ENGLAND AND GERMANY: FROM POST-ROMANTICISM TO MODERNISM

In the early twentieth century, the viola began to gain status as a solo instrument with the appearance in England of the virtuosic violist Lionel Tertis. Because of a lack of music for viola at that time, such English composers as York Bowen, Arnold Bax, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss and William Walton began to write viola music for Tertis. Meanwhile, in Germany, the well-known composer and virtuosic violinist and violist Paul Hindemith wrote and premiered several viola sonatas and concertos. Viola music became even more developed later with William Primrose, the legendary Scottish violist, and all the works written in the early twentieth century have remained significant in the viola literature. Although this new viola music appeared in both countries during same period, it developed along different lines in each country. Because they were under the influence of earlier periods and traditions, the English composers who associated with Tertis wrote their music in a Romantic style, with expanded harmony, various colors of sound and timbre, and lyrical melodies. Hindemith, as a composer himself, employed a more Modernist style, using atonality and angular melodies, which represented German trends at that time. I have given three recitals, of which the first two were divided between selected English music and German music. Although I originally intended to focus solely on music by Hindemith and music written for Terts, I decided that in order to give a more complete view of the national trends of those two countries, I included Rebecca Clarke's Sonata, Lachrymae by Benjamin Britten (dedicated to William Primrose), and Max Reger's Suite for Viola. Rebecca Clarke was herself a fine violist, and her sonata's Romantic style is also representative of the English trends of viola music. Lachrymae was written with a different concept and shows more modernity than had ever before occurred in England, though it still differs from the modernity of other countries. Max Reger's Suite is in a truly Romantic style, yet it is old fashioned in ways that differ not only from Wagner or Strauss, but also from English music of the period. In my last recital I wished to pay homage to Tertis, with a program consisting entirely of music written for him. For the finale, Arthur Bliss's Viola Sonata was especially chosen because it provides interesting similarities and contrasts with earlier English music in the Romantic style.

LIONEL TERTIS AND THE FLOWERING OF EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY ENGLISH VIOLA REPERTOIRE

This performance project focused on English viola literature written in the first half of the twentieth century. During this time, numerous English composers were influenced by Lionel Tertis' unprecedented approach to the viola as a virtuosic and solo instrument. In addition to being an inspiration to composers of whom he was not in direct contact, Tertis' innovative vision for the viola led to numerous collaborations with prominent English composers of his generation. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax, York Bowen, Frank Bridge, Benjamin Britten, and Rebecca Clarke -his own protégé - composed some of the most important works for viola thus directly shaping the impression of the instrument as we know it today. Tertis' artistry as a performing violist was unmatched at the beginning of the twentieth century. He had a unique approach to the instrument which focused on concept of sound, tone color, concentrated listening, continuous vibrato, discreet portamento, and expressive interpretation. His convincing musical and technical ideas led him to write a treatise about how to achieve a beautiful tone. His passion for teaching and concern for the viola's posterity greatly enhanced the development of the viola. Tertis transcribed, edited, and premiered many works during his career. The music that Lionel Tertis influenced can be seen as a microcosm for a musical resurgence in England during the first half of the twentieth-century. The catalyst for this was artistic influences in the form of nationalism, folk music, romanticism, modernism, and impressionism, among others. Before this, England was widely referred to as ''the land without music" but in a very real sense, .Lionel Tertis was one of the pioneers who, through his artistry of the viola, led the way to the renaissance of music in England in the twentieth century.

MUSICAL EXOTICISM EXPLORED IN PIANO WORKS FROM THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY THROUGH THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY

Musical exoticism is the evocation of a culture different from that of the composer. It occurs anytime a composer tries to conjure up the music of a country not his own. Although there have been studies of exoticism in the piano works of an individual composer, namely Debussy, there has not been a comprehensive study of musical exoticism in the piano literature as a whole. Upon chronological examination of the piano repertoire, general trends exhibiting exoticism become evident. The first general trend is the emergence of the Turkish style (alia turca) in the eighteenth century. Turkish style soon transmuted to the Hungarian-Gypsy style (all 'ongarese or style hongrois). [In Beethoven's Op. 129, it is alia ingharese.] Composers often alternated between the two styles even in the same composition. By the late nineteenth century, style hongrois was firmly entrenched in the musical language of Austro-German composers, as seen in the works of Brahms. In the nineteenth century, composers turned to the Middle East, North Africa and Spain for inspiration. In particular are several compositions emulating Spanish dance music, culminating in the Spanish works of Debussy and Ravel. The gamelans from Indonesia and objects from the Far East of Japan and China, brought by advances in trade and transportation, captivated the imagination of composers at the turn of the twentieth century. Also in the early twentieth century, composers tried emulating dance and jazz music coming from the Americas, such as the cakewalk, minstrelsy, and the blues. One sees the ever widening sphere of exotic inspiration for western music composers: from the Turkish invasions to the traveling Gypsies of Hungary; to the captivating dance rhythms, soulful cante jondo sections, and guitar flourishes of Spain; expanding further to the far reaches of Asia and the jazzy rhythms of the Americas. This performance dissertation consists of three recitals presented at the University of Maryland, and is documented on compact disc recordings which are housed within the University of Maryland Library System. The recordings present the music of Balakirev, Beethoven, Brahms, Chopin, Debussy, Haydn, Hummel, Milhaud, Moszkowski, Mozart, Ravel, and Schubert.