Todestanzen

Hear an excerpt of this piece.

Composer: Keith Fitch
Instrumentation: viola, percussion
Year Composed: 1992
Duration: 14 minutes (3 movements)
Pages: 21
Cost: Purchase: $35.00

Representative Performances:

• Bowling Green New Music and Arts Festival, Bowling Green, OH (October 1997)
• Contemporary Music Festival, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN (October 1994)
• Norfolk Chamber Music Festival (June 1993)

Todestanzen was composed between July and October 1992 for the Canadian violist Peter Pas, who, with percussionist Bruce Hamilton, premiered it in March 1993 at Indiana University. The work is in three movements which explore both the dark lyricism traditionally associated with the viola and an outright virtuosity not often found in much of its repertoire. The percussion does not play a secondary role but has its own musical profile and is as soloistic and virtuosic as the viola.

The first movement is quiet and evocative, the viola carrying a long, expressive line while the percussion provides an almost ritualistic background. The second movement is again quiet but is a rapid scherzo, combining both perpetual motion and dance-like elements. The third movement is the most virtuosic of the three, juxtaposing music which is free and almost improvisatory with that which is traditionally controlled, driving the work to its final climax.