C.20th Viola Works by Women You Should Know

Ahead of a livestream for Scordatura Collective, I’ve been researching a number of composers from C.20th, I both knew well, such as Rebecca Clarke; and were more unfamiliar. They include American violist Lillian Fuchs, who like Clarke took to a performing & composing career; British composers Elizabeth Maconchy and Phyllis Tate. Two composers who span the C.20-21st - Pamela Harrison and Thea Musgrave, who at the age of 90 is still composing wonderful music today.

What I love researching the most - the stories of these incredible women, the history and setting in which they lived their life and music, and the composers and musicians who they met and made an impression.

One thing is for sure, there was a golden age of viola writing in C.20th, by composers who are popular today; and those who were highly successful, but are at risk of being forgotten. All the works for this event have been chosen as works you can play too, with an indication of playing level, and where to find the music. Welcome these composers into your homes and get to know them through their music.

Rebecca Clarke 1886 - 1979

Rebecca Clarke: 'Lullaby' for Viola and Piano (1909)

Rebecca Clarke: 'Untitled' for Viola and Pino (1917-18)

Rebecca Clarke: 'Passacaglia on an Old English Tune (by Thomas Tallis)' for Viola and Piano. (Grade 7 standard) (1940-41)

Rebecca Clarke: 'I'll Bid My Heart Be Still'. Old Scottish Border Melody arr. Viola and Piano (1944)

*All works from ‘Short Pieces for Viola and Piano’ published by Oxford University Press

Rebecca is much-loved by violists for her outstanding viola works, including her Viola Sonata. A formidable violist herself, she performed and composed during the time of Lionel Tertis and William Primrose.

But did you know, she entered the music profession as one of the first women to be accepted into a professional British orchestra? (Henry Wood’s orchestra - he founded the BBC Proms). The times were of women’s suffrage - votes for women! In 1918 women won the right to vote in the UK. They also campaigned for all sorts of women’s rights. In the music world, this translated to being allowed into the profession itself. Rebecca was part of a group of women composers and performers. For a time, this included Ethyl Smyth, until she wanted to join the suffragette movement. As well as writing the ‘March for Women’, Ethyl was arrested for throwing a rock into an MP’s window. Rebecca formed her own ‘all-female’ chamber group The English Ensemble (piano, violin, viola and cello). It enabled her to write wonderful chamber works for different instrument combinations and they premiered many of the works, including her ‘Dumka’ for violin, viola and piano. They sometimes were known to cross-dress, in order to play for ‘men-only’ music societies, including to get a tour to America. Clarke used her own name for her compositions, but sometimes a male pseudonym was used.

Her writing came at the turn of a century, and a great change in music - Mahler wrote his last work (Symphony No.10) a year after Rebecca’s student composition - ‘Lullaby’ for Viola and Piano (1909). French music was having its golden era, and you can hear Rebecca’s admiration of Ravel and Debussy in her harmonies.

Later, Rebecca visited and eventually moved permanently to America, marrying in 1944. Her ‘Passacaglia on an Old English Tune’ (composed a year after arriving) and her ‘I’ll bid my heart be still’ (written in the year she got married) are both somewhat nostalgic of the Britain she left behind. Initially she could not get a visa to return home to Britain after the outbreak of World War II. The Passacaglia is based on a theme by Thomas Tallis; while ‘I’ll bid my heart be still’ is an arrangement of an Old Scottish Border Melody. A lament about the death of a husband at the hands of the red-coats (the English soldiers). Rebecca was considered to be one of the best British composers pre-World War II.

‘‘I watched from a hilltop high

‘Neath a cloudless summer sky

Each happy father’s son

Shot down by a red coat gun

Had no chance to tell his children goodbye’’

Lillian Fuchs 1901 - 1995

Sonata Pastorale for Unaccompanied Viola (1956)

*Published by Associated Music Publishers Inc. A wonderful first foray into contemporary music for intermediate-advanced players. Wonderful melodies juxtaposed by toe-tapping, folk-inspired sections.

Lillian, like Rebecca, was an outstanding violist. She was composing during the time Rebecca had moved to the USA. I do hope they met - what an interesting conversation to overhear! Lillian had two professional musician brothers - Joseph (violin) and Harry (cello) with whom she upended the chamber music scene of New York. Famously, Bohuslav Jan Martinů wrote his ‘Madrigals’ for violin and viola for Lillian and Joseph, after hearing them perform Mozart’s duos for violin and viola. Lillian was also the first violist to record all of the Bach cello suites. Lillian played on a Grofiller viola, which her grand daughter now plays as a professional violist.

A lovely obituary for more information on Lillian’s Life: Read More

Elizabeth Maconchy 1907 - 1994

Five Sketches for Viola (1984)

Pamela Harrison 1915 - 1990

'Lament' for Viola and Piano (1965)

Pamela drew inspiration from growing up in nature in Kent, England for many of her works. She studied with composer Gordon Jacobs at the RCM, whom she greatly admired. Her work centers around chamber music, and she was known to love writing for her friends and family. She married cellist Harvey Philips (1943, just before Rebecca Clarke married in the US) and dedicated several works to him, and to her two sons. Indeed I am indebted to her son Tim for introducing me to Pamela’s music. As well as the ‘Lament’, Pamela wrote a wonderful Viola Sonata, which I recommend you play too! During World War II, Pamela worked as a school teacher, and her composition debut was in 1944 with her first string quartet, performed at the National Gallery Concerts, London. The ‘Lament’ draws on a wonderful harmonic language, with an almost jazzy feel, and a really wonderful melody.

Phyllis Tate 1911 - 1987

Variegations for Solo Viola (1971). Published by Oxford University Press.

''All I can vouch for is this - writing music can be hell; torture in extreme; but there’s one thing even worse; and that is not writing it.''

Phyl, as she was known to her friends, dominated the British contemporary music scene in the second half of C.20th. She loved writing for unusual instruments and combinations, including the lute. Her favourite composers were Berlioz and Janacek. She had a habit of burning works she deemed ‘not-worthy’, which sadly includes most of her early works. A perfectionist, she did not catalogue her works in case some might later be discarded. She collaborated with notable artists of the age, including poet Charles Causley, author Michael Morpurgo, performers Cleo Laine and John Dankworth. If you’re lucky, you may know some of her delightful works for children.

Phyllis met with composer Dame Ethyl Smyth - a contemporary of Rebecca Clarke’s and a fierce suffragette (she was arrested for throwing a rock through an MP’s window with the women’s suffrage movement). Ethyl became an advocate for Phyllis, helping her find performances for her Cello Concerto. Ethyl was elderly by this stage, and hard of hearing, but still went to the premiere.

‘‘My Cello Concerto was performed soon afterwards at Bournemouth with Dame Ethel sitting in the front row banging her umbrella to what she thought was the rhythm of the music. Just before she died, I invited her to my wedding. Her reply was typical and the card read ‘1,000 congratulations; sorry, too old to come but promise my ghost will not appear.’’ Phyllis Tate

Her music is published by Oxford University Press, and many manuscripts are held in the British Library. Find out more about her life and music at www.phyllis-tate.com

Thea Musgrave 1928*

'In the Still of the Night' for solo viola (1997)

Thea is still composing at the age of 92. She is a huge figure for Britain’s contemporary music and has an extensive career spanning over 60 years. During the Pandemic, she has been writing a new opera (read more about her work during lockdown).

‘‘A modern master of the orchestra’’

Thea is hugely regarded as a master of orchestral writing. But her ‘In the Still of the Night’ shows her great understanding of the viola as a solo instrument. Hugely atmospheric she writes ‘The day’s activities cease and there is a time for peaceful contemplation’. Composed in 1997, this is a work for just before the turn of a new century and highlights the colours and expression of the viola. She was awarded a CBE in 2002. A Scottish-American composer, Thea studied at the Univeristy of Edinburgh, then at the Conservatoire Paris with Nadia Boulanger (herself a student of Gabriel Faure). In 1970 Thea became a Guest Professor of the University of California, which saw her work become extensively received in the US. In 1971, she married American opera conductor Peter Mark and moved to the US permanently. Thea Musgrave on being a "woman" composer has replied; "Yes, I am a woman; and I am a composer. But rarely at the same time."

‘‘The day’s activities cease and there is a time for peaceful contemplation’’

Hear all of these works live online Wednesday 19th May for Scordatura Collective’s Spotlight on the Viola event. Performance at 8.30pm and pre-event talk 7.30pm.