UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI Date: 12-May-2010 I, Chiu-Ching Su , hereby submit this original work as part of the requirements for the degree of: Doctor of Musical Arts in Viola It is entitled: A Performance Guide to Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major with an Analytical Study of Published Cadenzas Student Signature: Chiu-Ching Su This work and its defense approved by: Committee Chair: Catharine Carroll, DMA Catharine Carroll, DMA 6/18/2010 657 A Performance Guide to Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major with an Analytical Study of Published Cadenzas A document submitted to The Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS in the Performance Studies Division of the College-Conservatory of Music 2010 by Chiu-Ching Su B.M. Fu Jen Catholic University, 2001 M.M. University of Cincinnati, 2003 ABSTRACT Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major (written prior to 1799) has become among the standard repertoire of viola concertos, due to the rise of viola virtuosos since the beginning of the twentieth century and the rarity of virtuosic viola concertos with stylistic forms from the Classical period. This piece has been included in several major orchestra auditions and competitions. While violists often lack hands-on experiences of the Classical repertoire, this document is to provide violists ways to perform this piece and pieces from the same period. Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major has been published by G. Henle Verlag, Kunzelmann, Peters, Kalmus, International Music Company (New York), H. L. Grahl, and Max Eschig. Kunzelmann is in full score and piano reduction, and the other six are in piano reduction. Seven cadenzas have been published, five of them were written by Franz Beyer, Herbert Blendinger, Maurice Vieux, Robert D. Levin, and Paul Doktor. Each of them presents different technical difficulties. These editions will be discussed and compared. The form of each movement will also be analyzed. Issues of performance practice will be provided along with the information above. I will examine Leopold Mozart’s A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, published at Ausburg in 1756, because this treatise not only deals with the techniques of violin playing, but also provides guidance on playing of ornamentations, which is informative for Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D Major. i © 2010 Chiu-Ching Su. All rights reserved. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my parents, my dad Chen-Ching Su and my mom A-Mai SuCheng, for their continuous support of my study. Thanks to my beloved mentors, Mr. Kawasaki and Dr. Carroll, for their encouragement and teaching in music and in life. Also, I am very honored to have Mr. Lee Fiser and Dr. Jeongwon Joe as my readers, from whom I learned a lot. I would also like to thank Shiau-uen Ding, for being a good friend and editing this document. I am grateful to have so many friends in Cincinnati and Taiwan, whose love gives me joy and strength. iii PREFACE Since the rise of viola virtuosos at the beginning of the twentieth century and composers’ rising interest in exploring new arenas in sounds and techniques, the viola, a versatile instrument which had not been much appreciated, becomes a means of innovative creation. Composers included Sofia Gubaidulina (Viola Concerto, 1996), Paul Hindemith (Der Schwanendreher, among others), Krzysztof Penderecki (Viola Concerto, 1983), Alfred Schnittke (Viola Concerto, 1985), and William Walton (Viola Concerto in A Minor, 1928-9, rev. 1961). Having concertos by great composers, violists seek out repertoire from other periods. While there are quite a few concertos written before the twentieth century, particularly between 1740 and 1840, only a few are worthy performing, being virtuosic and in the standard forms representative of their period musical styles. Representatives of the Baroque period are J.C. Bach’s Viola Concerto in C Minor, George Frideric Handel’s Viola Concerto in B Minor and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Concerto in G Major (TWV 51:G9), and Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Concerto in D Major and Carl Stamitz’s Concerto in D Major, Opus 1 equally represent the viola concertos from the Classical period. These two concertos by Hoffmeister and Stamitz have become standard repertoire for competitions and auditions, including Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and the ARD music competition. Unlike pianists and violinists, violists lack hands-on experiences of playing concertos from this period because of rarity of such repertoire. In this document, I will provide the performance practice of Hoffmeister’s Concerto in D Major, with supports of careful reading of manuscript and eight publications, formal iv analysis, and comparison of cadenzas available in print, in hope to aid students who wish to take on this piece or those in similar styles. v CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION History of Viola Concerto …………………………………………………………......... 1 Franz Anton Hoffmeister’s Music and Contributions ………..…………………………. 5 CHAPTER TWO –AN ANALYSIS OF HOFFMEISTER’S VIOLA CONCERTO IN D MAJOR First Movement …………………………………………………………………….. 8 Second Movement ………………………………………………………….............. 15 Third Movement …………………………………………………………………….. 17 CHAPTER THREE – PERFORMANCE PRACTICE OF HOFFMEISTER’S VIOLA CONCERTO IN D MAJOR Introduction ……………………………………………………………………….. 20 Ornamentation ………………………………………………………….…………. 21 Dynamic …................................................................................................................ 27 Solo part within tutti .....................................................................………………… 32 The International Music Company edition ………………………………………... 33 CHAPTER FOUR – Analytical Study of Published Cadenzas The Types of the Cadenza ………………………………………………………… 36 Analysis of Published Cadenzas and Pedagogical Suggestions …………………. 37 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………………… 45 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………….… 46 vi CHAPTER ONE – INTRODUCTION History of Viola Concerto Not until the Classical period did the viola start to enjoy its virtuosos and solo literature from major composers. Most of the viola repertoire which predates 1740 is in the form of arrangement or transcription from other instruments, such as J.S. Bach’s Unaccompanied Suites for Cello. There are two main reasons that the viola suffered such neglect. One is that there were no great violists. As a versatile orchestral and chamber music instrument, the viola part in such music was commonly within the limits of the lower three positions at that time; therefore, violists did not need to develop the technical proficiency necessary to be a great soloist. In addition, the viola sits right in the middle of acoustical range of the string section—too low to be a bright, soaring violin, too high to be a dark, sonorous cello—that it lacked the characteristics that composers at that time looked for on a solo instrument. Even though there were few pieces for viola, it was usually played by a violinist who could play viola as well. These reasons result in the viola being considered as a viola da braccio (viola of the arm), a “member” of the violin family.1 The viola was not considered as a solo instrument, but rather a violin of an inferior rank. Consequently, composers writing solo instrumental repertoire ignored the viola, almost stunting the development of its literature. In the middle of the eighteenth century, however, composers began to reconsider the role of the viola, and treat the viola as a solo instrument. According to a research by German 1 Robin Stowell, The Early Violin and Viola: A Practical Guide (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 34. 1 musicologist Ulrich Drüner, Georg Philipp Telemann gave the viola its first concerto in 1731. From there, between 1740 and 1840, composers wrote over one hundred and forty concertos for the instrument.2 The main reason for this development was violists’ higher technical proficiency. The level of the orchestra playing was higher than before, inspiring composers to write music to take advantage of it. The Mannheim orchestra, led by Johann Stamitz (1717-1757), is a famous example, which turned into the best one in Europe. Karl Stamitz (1745-1801), Johann’s first son, was from Mannheim orchestra and later he was best known as a touring virtuoso on violin, viola and viola d’amore. He was the first composer to specify a left hand pizzicato in a composition, which occurs in his Viola Concerto in D major, Opus 1. In the primary theme of the first movement, there is one passage with groups of sixteen notes in octaves. It is fast and in high position, which needs accurate shifting for violists. Moreover, this passage made this piece become one of the orchestral audition repertoires just like Hoffmeister’s Viola Concerto in D major. Stamitz’s Concerto Opus 1 has remained a standard work for violists till this day. Until the Romantic period, violists had developed the same level of technical proficiency as violinists. Hector Berlioz’s Harold in Italy (1834) is such an example, which was premiered by Chrétien Urhan, This piece was commissioned by Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840), one of the most celebrated violin virtuoso and also well-known as a great violist of his time. In Harold in Italy, the viola is the solo instrument and presents the main character, Harold. The soloist has to compete against an orchestra of a rather large scale at the time. The soloist needs to give a volume and sound projection of a protagonist. In addition, a few virtuosic passages in the piece display challenges typical of instrumental concertos. 2 Ulrich Drüner, “Das Viola-Konzert vor 1840,” Fontes Artis Musicae 28, no 3 (July- September 1981): 176. 2 Apart from Harold in Italy, composers in the Romantic period who wrote for viola favored keeping its role in intimate chamber music. The technical and musical requirements the viola was asked for is no less than in a viola concerto. However, since composers focused on writing viola for chamber music, the viola solo repertoire was ignored. After 1870, viola concerto leaped to another stage.