Nino Rota, Sonata for Viola and Piano (1934-1935): Genesis and Performing Alternatives

Abstract

This article traces the genesis of the Sonata for viola and piano composed by 23-year-old Nino Rota in 1934-35 for the Terza Rassegna Nazionale di Musica Contemporanea which took place in Rome in the spring of 1935. Rota’s work was selected by a jury chaired by Giuseppe Mulè and including Ottorino Respighi, Bernardino Molinari, Alfredo Casella and Vincenzo Tommasini. The young composer viewed this opportunity with apprehension as his stylistic orientation had begun to veer away from the then fashionable neo-classical movement. So, the gestation of this sonata for viola and piano chronicled in this article bears witness to Rota’s gradual evolutionary process that did not stop at the premiere of the work on 4 April 1935 but continued until the composer’s death in 1979. The considerable number of sketches pertaining to the 1935 version of the sonata, and the numerous revisions apported to it during the following decades, warranted the present study. In it, the author establishes a chronological order of Rota’s creative process vis-à-vis this work while engaging violists to consider some performing alternatives added to those provided by the currently available Edition Schott published posthumously in 2000. This article includes a singular audio-video digital document consisting of the original 1934-35 version performed in 1953 by William Primrose, viola and David Stimer, piano.