Chamber Music harp
SKU: PR.110406720
Composed by Samuel Adler.
Classical. Softcover.
With Standard notation.
Duration 14 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#110-40672. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.110406720).
UPC:
680160001316.
I
have always been fond of
writing works for
specific people or
organizations. It has
been my good fortune
during most of my
creative career to be
asked to compose for many
extraordinary performers.
The Sonata for
Harpsichord Solo is such
a case in point: it was
written in 1982 for
Barbara Harbach, a superb
performer, close friend,
and collaborator on many
musical projects. The
Sonata was premiered on
March 2, 1984, in a
recital given by Dr.
Harbach at Nazareth
College in Rochester, New
York. During my formative
years as a composer, one
seldom heard of the
harpsichord as a modern
instrument, though while
I attended undergraduate
school at Boston
University, some of us
banded together to
construct a small
harpsichord from one of
the first do-it-yourself
kits which began to
appear in the late '40s.
It was also during this
time that I heard the
Sonatina for Violin and
Harpsichord by my teacher
Walter Piston and
consequently specified
that the accompanying
instrument for my second
violin sonata could
either be a piano or a
harpsichord. It was not
until recently, however,
that my interest in the
harpsichord as a solo
instrument for new music
was aroused. This was
because of the emergence
of so many young
virtuosi, such as Barbara
Harbach, who are
interested in the
performance of new music
besides the great
harpsichord music of the
Classical, Baroque, and
pre-Baroque eras. The
keyboard music of
Domenico Scarlatti has
always intrigued and
fascinated me. The
brevity, excitement, and
clarity of this sparkling
music is charming as well
as exhilarating. It is
this type of Baroque
sonata that inspired the
conception and form of my
harpsichord sonata. The
entire work is loosely
based on the musical
translation of Barabara
Harbach's name,
especially the conflict
of the B (B-flat) and H
(B-natural in German
notation). This secondo
rub or dissonance
especially pervades the
first movement, which is
in a modified sonata
form, pitting jagged and
tense melodic elements
against most lyrical and
smooth lines. This second
movement is a song-like
melody accompanied by
rolled chords which may
be played on the lute
stop of the instrument if
this sonata is performed
on a two-manual
harpsichord. The final
movement is an
ever-driving joyous
toccata which brings the
work to an exciting close
with a coda made up of
accelerating repeated
chords. --Samuel
Adler.
