COURT DANCES (2024) for viola and piano
Instrumentation: viola and piano
Duration: ~15 minutes
Movements:
Allemande
Sarabande
Gavottes
Gigue
Performance/Recording History:
Premiered by Oriana Hawley, viola and Shiqin Wang, piano on April 4, 2024 at the Viola Premieres 2024: Rodland Viola Studio Collaborates with Juilliard Composition Students event in Paul Hall at The Juilliard School in New York City, NY
Program Notes:
As with many musicians, Baroque dance forms are a genre I have encountered many times throughout my life. Writing this piece afforded me the opportunity to finally delve into this treasured corner of the repertoire and begin to understand what makes these forms work. In COURT DANCES, I sought to honor Baroque dance forms while simultaneously reinterpreting them using my own stylistic palette. In a typical Baroque suite, the Allemande is a stately dance in moderate tempo. The Sarabande is a slow dance in triple meter with a characteristic emphasis on the second beat of the bar. The Gavotte is a moderately quick dance in duple meter which begins on the third beat of the measure. Finally, the Gigue is a lively, vivacious dance in compound meter.