Thom Ritter George

CONCERTO FOR VIOLIN AND ORCHESTRA, CN 351 (1997)
 
 

PROGRAM NOTES

by Thom Ritter George

Every composer wants to leave behind a violin concerto.  The nature of the instrument itself suggests the lyric, singing quality of the human voice combined with a unique type of technical agility unlike that of any other.  Then too, there is a great legacy of violin and orchestra works written by the master composers.  Consequently, the desire to try one's own hand at writing a violin concerto is irresistible.

If a master composer wrote a violin concerto at all, he generally did it only once.  Beethoven, Brahms, Tchaikovsky, Lalo, Elgar, Sibelius, Barber, Berg, and Stravinsky left us with but a single work in the genre.  In working on my own Violin Concerto, I discovered the reason why.  The composer forms an intimate relationship with the instrument and exposes very personal thoughts which can be said only once in a lifetime.  A great number of the famous concertos cited above were written in the composer's mature years when he could bring both the necessary technical mastery and a wealth of human experiences to the task.

For some time, I have found it curious that a good number of the masterpieces for violin and orchestra were pitched in the key of "D."  Examples include the Violin Concertos of Bach (No. 3), Mozart (No. 4), Mendelssohn (No. 1), Beethoven, Brahms, Bruch (No. 2), Tchaikovsky, and Sibelius.  Undoubtedly the reason for this obsession with "D" has to do with the harmonic implications of the open violin strings which are "G, D, A, and E," given from the lowest to the highest sounding pitch.  If "D" is used as the tonic, the "G," the string below it, functions as the subdominant; "A," the string above the tonic "D," functions as the dominant; and "E," the highest string, functions as the supertonic.  Taken together, these relationships form a very strong harmonic foundation for the work.  Also, using "D" opens possibilities for using many natural harmonics and chordal playing.

Such a compelling tradition prompted me to write my Violin Concerto in "D" also.  When writing, I broke with my usual method of sketching aided only by a piano.  For this work, I also tested each section on a violin to insure maximum resonance and naturalness in executing the passagework.  In the process of doing this, I became convinced that some of the famous composers such as Beethoven and Sibelius also tested their Violin Concertos in exactly the same way.

I cast my Violin Concerto in the traditional three movement format.  The first, and longest, movement is structured in sonata-allegro form.  The principal theme is lyric in character, and the second theme provides contrast by introducing 16th note passagework.  The development is concerned almost exclusively with musical elaborations of the principal theme and is capped by a cadenza for the solo violin before the recapitulation.

The second movement is in three-part song form.  The somber tones of the woodwinds pave the way for the rather melancholy theme of the solo violin in B minor, the relative minor of "D" and, in a symbolically musical sense, the "Key of Death."  While the solo violin sings its song in 4/4 meter, it is accompanied by pizzicato strings playing in a 3/4 metrical pattern.

The third movement is in rondo form which has always been a favorite of mine for concerto finales.  Here the music constantly twists between D Major and D Minor, finally settling on D Major near the end.  Fast, virtuoso music is in abundance to allow the soloist to bring the work to an exciting conclusion.

The Concerto for Violin and Orchestra was composed from June 14 to September 7, 1997 in Pocatello, Idaho.  The first performance was given October 11, 1997 by Samantha George, violin, and Thom Ritter George conducting the Quincy Symphony Orchestra, Quincy, Illinois, as part of the Quincy Symphony's fiftieth anniversary season.  The work is scored for solo violin, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, four horns, two trumpets, three trombones, tuba, timpani, harp, and strings.
 

(TRGcm: 1997.09.19; Pocatello, Idaho)