I first came across Elliott Carter’s Four Lauds a few years ago, when searching for some new repertoire. Initially I was interested because of their subject matter: Many solo violin works explicitly or implicitly pay homage to their precursors (pieces by Bach, Paganini, Ysaÿe, etc.), and Carter’s pieces fit into this tradition in a unique way. Each one of the Lauds is dedicated to a friend, mentor, or colleague of his. All of the dedicatees are musical luminaries in their own right: the quintessentially American composer Aaron Copland, the Italian composer and pedagogue Goffredo Petrassi, the American composer and iconoclast Roger Sessions, and the American violinist Robert Mann. Carter dedicates works to friends/mentors/colleagues fairly often, but in the context of the solo violin repertoire it struck me as especially meaningful.
So I learned them!
In the process, I discovered more and more about Carter’s musical language and how he sculpted the notes to fit each dedicatee’s personality. For instance, “Riconoscenza per Goffredo Petrassi” is made up of three distinct types of musical material: a medium-loud lyrical and dolce singing line, calm and hushed double stops, and fast, loud, and brash sixteenth notes. These are juxtaposed in quick alternation, representing Petrassi’s tendency—he was a loquacious talker—to switch moods and subjects seemingly at the drop of a pin.
Or take “Rhapsodic Musings,” which you’ll hear during the virtual concert today. Carter dedicated it to Robert Mann, who as first violinist of the Juilliard Quartet championed many of Carter’s works. Note the correlation between the name and the title: Rhapsodic Musings, Robert Mann (I see what you did there, Elliott). Carter composes this into the piece itself, too. In the very first bar, we hear a D–E motive which Carter repeats and transforms over the course of the piece. In solfege, D and E are represented as “Re” and “Mi.” Coincidence? I think not.
The Four Lauds were published in 2000. Yet as it turns out, Carter was not done with the solo violin genre. On December 9, 2013, several musicians he had worked with for many years put on a tribute concert in honor of his upcoming 103rd birthday. Remarkably, Carter wrote five (!) new pieces for the program, among which was “Mnemosyné.” Decidedly a miniature, the piece is classic late Carter: rhythmically complex on the page but lyrical to the ear, full of expressive gestures, timbral contrasts, and subtle winking humor. The title refers to the Greek muse of memory; appropriately, Carter dedicated it to his late wife, Helen, who had passed away in 2003. Yet this is no elegy—it is lyrical, expressive, and ultimately celebratory. Rather than mourning a loss, Carter is fondly remembering what used to be. I like to think it is an appropriate piece for a composer near the end of a long, full life, and an appropriate work for us to enjoy as we remember the past while looking forward to the future.
-Jacob Schafer
Photo by Tim Holt