Violin and piano
SKU:
HL.49045822
For
violin and piano.
Composed by Vijay Iyer.
This edition: Saddle
stitching. Sheet music.
String Solo. Softcover.
Composed 2015. 72 pages.
Duration 15'. Schott
Music #ED30264. Published
by Schott Music
(HL.49045822).
ISBN
9781540024749. UPC:
888680737764.
9.25x12.0x0.29
inches.
The
Kreutzer Sonata was
originally dedicated not
to Rudolphe Kreutzer (who
never performed it) but
to George Bridgetower, a
famed 18th-century
Afro-European concert
violinist. In an early
draft, Beethoven jokingly
labeled the piece in
starkly racialized terms:
Sonata Mulattica composed
for the mulatto
Brischdauer, big wild
mulatto
composer.Beethoven and
Bridgetower performed the
premiere, which was by
all accounts a success,
and even featuring some
improvised embellishment
by the violinist. While
celebrating afterwards,
the two quarreled about
what Beethoven construed
as Bridgetower's insult
of a female acquaintance;
the composer then revoked
the original dedication,
adding Kreutzer's name
instead. The work gained
acclaim, while
Bridgetower's career
languished; he eventually
died in
poverty.Bridgetower has
been the subject of
considerable research and
speculation, most notably
in poet Rita Dove's book,
Sonata Mulattica. From
our 21st-century vantage,
considering Bridgetower's
unique circumstance, we
can only see him as an
ambiguous figure who, in
embodying difference,
provoked inspiration,
fantasy, desire, anger
and, finally, erasure.My
piece is a collection of
imaginings about George
Bridgetower. It is not
programmatic, but it
takes on an episodic
character, assembled from
contrasting fragments.
The dance rhythms,
recurring figures and
gestural contours are
intended to feature the
embodied expertise and
expressivity of the
performers, who at times
must access liminal
sounds and execute
complex synchronies. I am
grateful to Jenny Koh and
Shai Wosner for involving
me in their beautiful,
virtuosic
music-making.
