Sonata for Viola (or Cello) and Piano
- Instrumentation
- Cello, Piano
- Composed
- 1919
- Duration
- 22'
- Publisher
- Hildegard Publishing Company
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About this piece
Clarke's best-known work, composed between April and July 1919 and a prize-winning sensation at that year's Berkshire Festival. Chester published it in 1921 as a sonata for viola (or cello) and piano, and Clarke made the cello version herself with the help of her friend the cellist May Mukle. The three movements - a sweeping Impetuoso that opens with a fanfare, a quicksilver Vivace full of harmonics and pizzicato, and a pensive Adagio that recalls the first movement's themes before a brilliant close - draw on Debussy's modes and whole-tone colours as well as English pastoral lyricism. The first page carries a line from Alfred de Musset: 'Poet, take your lute; the wine of youth'.
Technical overview
Three movements: Impetuoso - ma non troppo Allegro (quarter = 116), Vivace (dotted quarter = 116), Adagio (quarter = 48). The Vivace uses harmonics and pizzicato; the finale builds to a 'pyrotechnical' climax; the writing is highly idiomatic but presents many obstacles, with a piano part of equal difficulty.
Technical focus
- Harmonics