For the past seven years I have had the pleasure of discovering a corner of the chamber music repertoire that I now consider to be undervalued and under-explored: music for two violins. Like most violinists, I had occasionally read through some pieces for this combination for fun or convenience, but my only real performance exposure to this niche was within the context of new music. In 1981, while still an undergraduate student, I gave the U.S. premiere of two pieces by Alfred Schnittke as part of an all-Soviet chamber program.

Like all lovers of the violin and its music, I was drawn in my youth to the iconic Bach Double Concerto, soon followed by an exploration of the two-violin concertos by Vivaldi (there are well over 20!). But without the full body and color of an orchestra to support them, along with the grounding of a bass line, I didn’t think that two solitary violins could sound like much more than a lighthearted Vaudeville routine.

My perspective changed significantly in 2017 with the abrupt withdrawal of two colleagues for a trio concert. With only two weeks’ notice (at a well-known university series), I faced the difficult choice of canceling my participation in the series, presenting a hastily cobbled solo violin recital, or building a new program from scratch.

One month earlier, I was fortunate to have met the terrific violinist (and fellow ACMP coach) Emilie-Anne Gendron, whose creativity and intellect match her extraordinary violin playing. When I told her my dilemma at having no program two weeks before the concert, and that I would not subject an audience to a one-hour program of solo violin music, the plausibility and efficiency of a two-violin program began to come into focus as Emilie graciously volunteered. The repertoire had to be carefully chosen since she was to be out of the country for 10 of those 14 days. We had only one day to set the program, then two days after her return to refine and polish. But what repertoire for a solid hour of music?

I had long been intrigued by a story my college music history professor, Dr. Fritz Kramer, shared about private chamber music readings in Vienna in the 1780s, where composers would come together to play through each other’s music in friendship and respect, and maybe to borrow a few ideas. In 1783 one of these gatherings featured a string quartet which included Haydn’s court concertmaster, Luigi Tomasini on first violin, Joseph Haydn himself on second, Wolfgang Mozart on viola, and Luigi Boccherini on cello. Oh, to have been a fly on that wall!

Practically speaking, building a program of music from the Classical Era (c.1750-1820) was going to be easier than jumping around in history, and these composers stayed true to Enlightenment ideals: their compositions were well organized in structure and sensibility. I could pay tribute to these four composer-performers (and my college mentor) now that I had the privilege to play with Emilie.

In the end, our program included the E major duo by Boccherini (bright, perky, lightly flashy), and Duo Concertante by Tomasini (his virtuosic writing was like being shot out of a cannon). Haydn’s contribution was his own arrangement of a theme and variations from an early string quartet (opus 17 no.3), and we ended with an arrangement of Mozart’s first Duo for violin and viola, with the viola part tastefully transposed to violin…I know, no C string, but neither of us play viola professionally!

The performance was both successful and enjoyable for us and thus began my collaboration with Emilie and other violinists, discovering underplayed rarities, often by well-known composers, showing different facets of their compositional gifts.

The repertoire for two violins is surprisingly vast. An excursion into the musician’s friend, Imslp.org, will reveal hundreds of pieces for this combination in the site’s broad category of time periods: Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern. Keep in mind that this website lists only works that are not under copyright protection. With a little patience and persistence, one can discover many more pieces from publishers’ catalogues, libraries, streaming services, and even the most basic web searches.

From the Baroque era, there is not as much to choose as I imagined, as most music was tied to compositional structures supported by bass-line continuos. Some of the extant pieces are tied to French court musicians who could exhibit a surprising level of technical virtuosity and panache. Some of the more interesting works I have performed are from the end of this era by consummate violinist-composers like Guignon, Leclair and Telemann.

The Classical Era explodes with two-violin works at all levels of difficulty, fueled in part by the interest of all social classes to play music in the home, and aided by the proliferation of instructional works by pedagogues of the Paris Conservatory and other schools, advancing the baseline level of technique through readily available publications. The four composers cited above are representative of the former concept, and later, the Conservatoire Triumvirate, Kreutzer, Baillot and Rode, as well as De Beriot, Dancla, Alard, etc.

The Romantic Era suffers from a dearth of publication that come across as more personal statements perhaps overshadowed by the grandeur of symphonic and operatic palates. Spohr is an exception, with his conservative but challenging offerings.

The early twentieth century revives the genre as a vehicle for exploration and experimentation. As in any medium, Reger and Hindemith are always present, presenting traditional forms with personalized vocabularies, but the real gems are by Honegger, Prokofiev, Bartók, and the rarely-heard British composer Alan Rawsthorne. Since the 1970s there has been a steady stream of compositions that utilize both the conversational nature of two violins and their sonic palate that may include vocal, polyphonic, and extended techniques.

As with all artistic projects, there is never a terminus or conclusion. My exploration will continue indefinitely, since everywhere I look, there are new discoveries to be made and never enough time to practice!

Gabriel Schaff is in the ACMP Coach Directory

Gabriel Schaff ©2024