SEVN: research phase/part one
I am only at the beginning of this journey as part of my SEVN bursary. I aim to list as many pieces written by female composers for solo, unaccompanied viola, as possible. This is in no way a comprehensive list and I will be editing and updating over the next year. If you are reading this and are aware of other works/composers I have missed, please do get in touch.
It is so exciting when you start searching for music as you realise there IS a good deal out there. However, it can be a little disheartening when you try sourcing music as it is often tricky to find. I have been contacting many living composers asking for details of works and access to sheet music so hopefully I will have some exciting updates soon.
I would like to thank the Contemporary Music Centre in Dublin for helping provide an up-to-date list of Irish works. I decided to include pieces with tape as that is something that interests me.
Irish Composers:
Alyson Barber: Twists and Turns (2009)
Ann Cleare: IRK for viola & optional live electronics (2006)
Eibhlis Farrell: Penelope Weaving (1994)
Amanda Feery: Boreal (2010)
Amanda Feery: Kissing the ground (2015)
Deirdre Gribbin: North (1995)
Rachel Holstead: Refrain (2001-2002)
Mary Kelly: Voilá (2012)
Finola Merivale: Hypnic Jerks (2015)
Anne Marie O’Farrell: Suite for Cello (1998) arranged for viola at my request
Jane O’Leary: No.19 (2013)
Irish Composers-With Tape
Linda Buckley: Do you remember the planets? (2004)
Emma O’Halloran: Points of Infinity (2017)
Emma O’Halloran: Points of Infinity
Judith Ring: Hush…(2008)
Viola alone:
Eveline Accart: Sonata
Allyson Applebaum: Soliloquy
Grazyna Bacewicz: Sonata
Grazyna Bacewicz: Polish Caprice
Sally Beamish: Penillion
Janet Beat - Circe
Charlotte Bray - In black Light
Ann Callaway: Chorale (1993)
Libby Croad - Deeds not Words (commissioned by Beth McNinch 2022)
Violeta Dinescu - Din cimoiu (unpublished)
Sarah DuBois: Sonata for Solo Viola, 2001
Sarah DuBois: 3 Movements for Solo Viola, 2004
Vivian Fine: Song of Persephone
Elena Firsova - Suite (B&H)
Lillian Fuchs: Sonata Pastorale, 3 Etude volumes
Barbara Giuranna: Solo per viola
Betsy Jolas: Episode sixième
Barbara Kolb: Cavatina
Catherine Kontz: Woollen
Carey Lovelace: Rising
Elizabeth Lutyens: Sonata
Elisabeth Lutyens - Echo of the Wind
Elizabeth Maconchy: Five Sketches
Elizabeth Maconchy: Variations on a Theme from Vaughn Williams's Job
Ursula Mamlok: Composition for viola solo
Ursula Mamlok: From My Garden
Jessie Montogomery: Rhapsody No.1
Jessie Montogomery: Rhapsody No.2
Thea Musgrave: Light at the end of the tunnel (2020)
Thea Musgrave - In the Still of the Night (Novello)
Betty Olivera: Sonata for Viola
Claire Polin: Serpentine
Marga Richter: The Darkening of the Light
Tona Scherchen: Lien
Ruth Schonthal: Four Epiphanies
Judith Shatin: L'Etude du Coeur
Marcelle Soulage: Sonate in F, Op. 43
Hilary Tann: The Cresset Stone
Phyllis Tate: Variegations
Janet Owen Thomas - Partita (Maecenas)
Aziza Sadikova: Entfernung (2003)
Nancy Van de Vate: Suite
Carolyn Waters Broe: Tokudo - The Gate of Enlightenment
Carolyn Waters Broe: Hora - Dance Around the Pillar of Ashera
Stephanie Wiener: Sonata in D
