According to musicologists and critics, the “English Musical Renaissance” or the second Renaissance of English music, as it also called, to distinguish it from the generation of English musicians of the Renaissance, produced many composers in Great Britain during the years 1880 to 1966. This resurgence of nationalistic musical activity was a time of prolific musical output by composers such as Edward Elgar, Arnold Bax, Gustav Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Another composer who flourished during the English Renaissance was Edwin York Bowen (1884-1961). His Viola Concerto in C minor, Op. 25 (1907), is the subject of this essay. Bowen’s Viola Concerto was written with Lionel Tertis (1876-1975) in mind. Tertis, the leading violist of the day, made it his life’s mission to popularize the viola as a solo instrument. This essay explores the Concerto from a theoretical point of view. In addition, the piece will be approached from a performance/pedagogical point of view, with the inclusion of a methodology of study based on sixteen specific technical excerpts drawn from the piece.

abstract: Highly active in the fields of viola performance, composition, recording, and pedagogy, Lionel Tertis is known as one of the first and most influential career violists. Established in 1980, the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and Festival was founded in his honor and occurs triennially at the Isle of Man. While addressing facets of the professional violist with workshops, lectures, and masterclasses, this event provides a venue for competitive performers, acting as a platform for new viola repertoire. Each competitor must prepare an extensive set of viola repertoire, among which is a compulsory piece for unaccompanied viola by an English composer. These commissioned works require the virtuosity and expression available within a contemporary musical language; this additionally challenges competitors to provide an artistic interpretation relatively untouched by tradition or common practice. Although these pieces are written specifically for the competition, the commissioned works have the capacity to reach beyond the competition sphere and are highly programmable in most recital and solo performance settings. These pieces provide the contemporary violist with a greater selection of repertoire that displays idiomatic and expressive strengths of the viola. My project commemorates the contributions of Lionel Tertis to the advancement of viola repertoire and performance with the study of works written a century post his prolific career. The secondary intent is to provide biographical information about each composer and to explore how these highly programmable works enrich the violist and their repertoire, ultimately bringing recognition to these new works for solo viola. Through biographical research, musical analysis, interviews and the recording process, I will provide a performer's analysis and supplemental recordings for three of these works: Darkness Draws In by David Matthews, Sonatine I by Roger Steptoe and Through a Limbeck by John Woolrich. / Dissertation/Thesis / Audio recording of 'Sonatine I' by Roger Steptoe, performed by Allyson Wuenschel / Audio recording of 'Darkness Draws In' by David Matthews, performed by Allyson Wuenschel / Audio recording of 'Through A Limbeck' by John Woolrich, performed by Allyson Wuenschel / Doctoral Dissertation Music 2017

Arthur Bliss’s Sonata for Viola and Piano stands as a significant achievement in early twentieth-century chamber music for viola and is the result of a fruitful collaboration between composer and virtuoso performer. Multiple scholars recognize the sonata as one of Bliss’s finest works. Despite these accolades, the work has failed to attract sustained scholarly investigation. This document provides performers with the necessary tools for a thorough and contextualized presentation of the work. The main body of this study details the technical aspects of performing the sonata: viola technique, expressive challenges, and ensemble concerns. Preceding this, I cover the relevant biographical details from Bliss’s life, examine the roots of his chamber music writing for viola by analyzing two early works, and investigate the collaboration between Lionel Tertis and Bliss in creating this work.