The aim of this Ph. D. is to investigate string performance practice issues in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century viola repertoires. The study will focus especially on the use of vibrato and portamento, as well as tempo modification and rhythm adjustment. This practice-based research involves a methodology which explores the close relationship between theory and practice. Chapter One outlines my methodology, reflecting on the philosophical approach that I have developed throughout my project. The content also describes the importance of first-hand experience, highlighting the link between psychology and qualitative method. These subjects are then developed in Chapter Two, which explores the early stage of my four-year journey of this research. I analyse my two `modern' recordings of Brahms' Sonatas for Viola and Piano, Op. 120, No. 1 and 2, demonstrating the way in which globalisation and modernised playing have dominated our perception and affected music production in the recording industry. Chapter Three examines primary sources, and related early recordings(1) together with secondary literature,(2) with reference to my interpretation of German-Romantic viola repertoires by Robert Schumann, Joseph Joachim and Johannes Brahms(3). My intention is to try to understand and apply Joachim's aesthetic to my playing. Chapter Four focuses upon Lionel Tertis' playing. Using Tertis' treatise, Beauty of Tone in String Playing,(4) as well as his complete Vocalion and Columbia recordings,(5) and fingerings from his edition, I develop and then criticise my own interpretation. In Chapter Five I examine the process through which I have developed my own taste as a historically-informed player. I consider my expectations for the future alongside literature related to interpretation. Details of the recorded portfolio are presented at the end of this thesis, including a description of each CD album, a list of the repertoire and the duration, recording date, instrumental equipment and setting, as well as the recording equipment, software and recording engineer. It is suggested that the reader uses the commentary with the recordings, or if preferred, listens to the recordings first and then uses the written text for detailed explanation regarding my approach to interpretation. 1 See Discography, p. 95-6. 2 See Bibliography, p. 91-4. 3 See Appendix I, pp. 97-102. 4 Lionel Tertis, Beauty of Tone in String Playing (London, 1938). 5 Lionel Tertis' complete Vocalion recordings, 1919-24, Biddulph 80219-2; and Columbia recordings, 1924-33, Biddulph 80216-2.

The present submission consists of an Analysis of Luciano Berio's Sequenza VI for Viola (1967) and a folio of nine Scores composed between 2009 and 2013, which are accompanied by their recordings and a Commentary on the Compositions. Knowledge of the radical compositional trends of the avant-garde period and the more conservative and pluralistic creativity from the 1970s onwards is adapted to create coherent works of sophisticated and seemingly free forms. The following research questions are addressed: How can the serial and modal material be organized and combined? In the folio the serial material is elaborated in various ways to shape lengthy melodic lines freely harmonized by tertian harmony. The modal material is harmonized according to its own aesthetic requirements. The transition from an area of serial material to an aesthetically different environment of modal material is prepared gradually by modulations in harmony, texture, rhythm, dynamic and tone colour. How is the textural and rhythmic irregularity of Sequenza VI modelled in the folio? Sequenza VI, written for a solo instrument, develops a great textural and rhythmic irregularity in line with a large-scale structural thought. In the compositions, written for ensembles, the music develops in a more consistent manner by constant transformations between seemingly free and open events which occur within a sophisticated framework. A new event usually brings about a tempo and metric differentiation which is controlled by metric modulation. How might the performance freedom implied by the rhythmic notation of Sequenza VI be transferred to compositions for ensemble? In Sequenza VI the freedom in performance, implied by the unbarred conventional notation, mainly refers to the degree of rhythmic deviation which is allowed to the performer. In the compositions the sense of rhythmic freedom is obtained more by a variety of textures than by a rhythmic deviation in performance. The metric patterns are changed frequently in a consistent manner but not before a minimum aural comprehension. This approach requires writing with bar-lines for the best co-ordination. Broadly speaking the rhythmic parameter is exalted as the most important stylistic factor in both Sequenza VI and the Compositions.

„Kontraste für Viola solo“ entstand 2002. Das 7-8-minütige Werk komplettiert einen Zyklus von drei einsätzigen Werken für ein Streichinstrument allein. Im Unterschied zur „Sonate für Violine solo“ und dem „Allegro für Violoncello solo“ (ADU-Verlag, Aurich 2001, jetzt Merseburger-Verlag, Kassel) wurden die „Kontraste“ bislang (Stand 2020) noch nicht öffentlich aufgeführt oder bei einem Verlag veröffentlicht. Im Zeitraum 2000 bis 2005 entstanden außerdem zwei abendfüllende Oratorien ('Für Deine Ehre habe ich gekämpft, gelitten' – Stationen der Passion Jesu, Oratorium für Sprecher, Sopran, Bariton, Chor und Orchester, 2000 und 'Alles, was atmet, lobe den Herrn' - ein Schöpfungsoratorium, 2003-04). Während ich mich dort um großflächige Anlagen bemüht habe, ging es mir in „Kontraste“ um scharfe Gegensätze etwa zwischen laut und leise, hoch und tief sowie lang und kurz auf engstem Raum. Der großformale Verlauf wird dadurch unkalkulierbar. Dennoch entsteht durch die Wiederkehr von Elementen, z. B. zwei- oder dreitönigen Halbtonfolgen auf- oder abwärts, der Eindruck von Geschlossenheit. (Computer-Notensatz (SIBELIUS): August 2020)

This thesis develops an ecological perspective devoted to the question of what, if anything, it means to speak of music ‘itself’. As such it seeks to enrich and further develop music-centred perspectives in the sociology of music. To this end, the thesis uses and develops a sociology of mediations designed to specify empirically the constituents of localized, emergent and performed configurations of “music” within the ‘classical’ music world. An ethnographically informed and practice-driven case study of viola and viola playing is used as a means to gain insight into the avant-garde of viola playing today and to follow the ways in which different protagonists constitute viola aesthetics. Considering the viola’s identity historically, in terms of both reproduction and change (specifically, the instrument’s shift from a marginal status to a position nearer the centre within ‘classical’ music), the study addresses instrument materiality and technologies, sound playing techniques, as well as, more globally, viola identities in relation to the instrument’s sonic features, repertoire, psycho-cultural and affective associations and meaning making in interpretation and performance. It is also shown how musicians deal with and ‘erase’ ‘limitations’ formerly attributed to the viola and make the instrument ‘work’ (through technological calibration in collaboration with instrument-makers as well as playing techniques) and thus correspond the requirements of contemporary music performance. Aiming to be a useful resource for violists, this thesis traces change but also identifies potential constraints produced by the past history of the viola upon the ways the instrument is seen, used and explored. The data for this study was collected through audio/video-recorded interviews with eight widely recognized highly-skilled violists, video-recorded performance and observations of viola lessons, and documentary analysis. This thesis highlights the importance of intermediate mediations that, situated in-between score and performance, affect how music comes to sound when played. It also outlines a grounded theory of the affordances of couplings made between players and instruments, so as to develop a performative idiom that considers representations, discourses and social construction, but also materiality, bodies and minds, internalization processes, practices. The thesis concludes by suggesting that a ‘strong’ cultural and musical sociology requires a relational and transdiciplinary approach and that this approach in turn helps to articulate an eclectic and hybrid sociology of imbrications, one that challenges intra-disciplinary divides.