Great Music in an Intimate Setting

Provided by Winterlude

Three staples of the viola repertoire, all with intriguing origin stories, are on the program for the next Winterlude chamber concert on Sunday, March 30.

Now in its third season at the Villa Terrace decorative arts museum, Winterlude presents small ensembles (along with Sunday morning coffee and pastries) in the museum’s Great Hall overlooking Lake Michigan. Pianist and conductor Yaniv Dinur, who organizes the series, invites Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra musicians to join him in performance. MSO violist Beth Breslin and Dinur will play viola/piano duos on Sunday.

The first work on the program, entitled Morpheus, had a mysterious premiere at a New York City concert in 1918, where the composer was listed as Anthony Trent. Reviewers loved the work, in which lyrical viola melodies and glissando piano passages invoke the Greek god of dreams. But in fact, Rebecca Clarke (1886-1979), the British viola virtuoso who played that day, wrote Morpheus. Her decision to use a pen name reflected the lack of support then for female composers and Clarke’s own “difficulty in believing in herself as a composer,” wrote musicologist Liane Curtis in The Musical Times. Fortunately, when Clarke’s Viola Sonata, composed under her own name, was warmly received, she later explained  “I killed Anthony Trent officially and with no regrets – I’ve never been bothered with him since!”

A century earlier, in Austria, a new instrument captured the attention of Franz Schubert (1797-1828). The arpeggione was a hybrid of the guitar and cello; it had frets and six strings tuned like a guitar, and was held, bowed, and plucked like a cello. Soon after its invention, Schubert composed a three-movement sonata for Vincenz Schuster, a champion of the instrument. Because it was awkward to play and had a small sound, the arpeggione’s popularity was short-lived, and the instrument is essentially extinct today. However, the Arpeggione Sonata, with its expressive melodies and emotional depth, survives in the form of a beloved transcriptions for cello, viola, and contra bass published after Schubert’s death. Breslin will take some license with the score, making small adjustments to make the viola line more musically convincing and a bit easier to play.

And the third work on the program? In 1890, Johannes Brahms (1833-1897) considered retiring as a composer. Yet an inspiring performance by German clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld reignited his interest in writing music. He composed several chamber works for clarinet, including two clarinet sonatas which Brahms subsequently transcribed for the viola. Writing in The Strad, Michael Freyhan calls the viola transcriptions “the most substantial contribution of any of the great 19th-century composers to the viola sonata.” Breslin and Dinur will play the Viola Sonata No. 1 in F minor.

Winterlude will be performed at 11 a.m. Sunday, March 30, at Villa Terrace, 2220 N. Terrace Ave., Milwaukee. Tickets are available online.

On July 24, 26, and 27, Villa Terrace will host a summer chamber festival organized by Dinur. He’s planning that event amidst a crowded spring schedule that includes guest conducting engagements with the MSO and orchestras in Tallahassee, Charlotte, Tulsa, and Rochester. Dinur also is in his 8th season as music director of the New Bedford, MA Symphony Orchestra.