Music that goes on... and on... and on...

Here's a problem that's new to me.

I'm writing a piece for solo violin and it's great. I love it... BUT... I'm working on the first movement(Not necessarily the first in order of performance but the first I've started) and it looks like it's going to be quite

long. Maybe around 10 minutes. That seems awfully long for a solo violin piece and I'm beginning to doubt

whether or not I should be cutting more material. Trouble is, there doesn't seem to be anything I can cut.

I'm not so much worried about the listener as I am about the performer. I can see lots of violinists rolling their eyes at me next september. I think the music would be rewarding to play but it's HARD stuff. Lots of quad stopping, quad stopping with trills, left hand pizz, the whole deal. Some of it gets quite high as well.

So I guess the topic today is, "Censoring Your Own Music When Faced With The Limitations of Reality".

As I said, this is the first time this has happened so maybe I'm just spazzing out.

Only you know who the player(s) are, and what thier abilities and sensibilities are. Why not ask them now? With an extended work like this, it's not uncommon for composers to work with the intended players.

Well the gal who asked me for music asked me to write her something really hard... I suppose I should just

keep plugging at it.

This thought just came to me...

What about proportion between movements of an extended piece? How do you find this affects the overall shape? It seems to me that if I started off a work with a big fat 10 minute movement and the rest were 4-5 minutes the piece would have a wierd goiter growing out of the beginning.

I'll probably have to use it as a middle movement.

This thought just came to me...

What about proportion between movements of an extended piece? How do you find this affects the overall shape? It seems to me that if I started off a work with a big fat 10 minute movement and the rest were 4-5 minutes the piece would have a wierd goiter growing out of the beginning.

I'll probably have to use it as a middle movement.

These are all questions of aesthetics. You can go with what has worked for many in the past or you can blaze your own trail. There are countless ways of going about it. Try classical forms, invoke Fibonacci, throw dice, whatever works. If you ever get around to posting it here, ask and folks will tell you how they feel. Sometimes these decisions are made long after the dots got to the page.

Why is 10 minutes long? Most of the great violin concerti from Beethoven onward have first movements that are much longer... 10 minutes is actually now considered a very short opening movement in a string concerto or piano concerto. In fact, the violin concerti of Beethoven and Brahms both have first movements that are a good bit longer than the other two movements combined... the Brahms 1st movement, on some recordings, goes to 27 minutes or longer.

It's not a concerto... it's for solo violin... acapella.

leightwing

I think you're truely obviously right. I'm just having panic attack.

I'm better now.

I believe Hindemith's sonata for unaccompanied viola also runs well over 20 minutes, with the first movement lasting at least 10.

the only thing that should decide whether you keep or cut material is whether it is musically sound or not. If you feel part of the music is crap, then it needs to be cut. If you love every note, then why worry about cutting and length?

You have to stand back from your own piece and guage whether each note is in its proper place.

1 - Have you established a form for your piece?

2 - If so, does every note fall into place in that framework?

3 - Are there any parts you yourself find "boring"?

4 - Is all your thematic/harmonic material coherant?

5 - Is your thematic material being used in a proportionate fashion?

6 - Are there any needless repetitions?

7 - Does any material feel like it NEEDS to be repeated but hasn't?

10 minutes can be a wonderful length when you have strong material to support it. It might not work as wonderfully for a piece based on a 3-note cellular motif. Or it could. On the other hand, a 3-minute piece is just too short when it's comprised of 2 themes that are each a minute long. There's no room for any development.

I personally see no reason to limit yourself to any particular length of time (unless the commission specifically asks for a piece"x minutes long").

The only difficulty with a longer (ie: 10 minutes) piece for solo violin is that it can get tedious for the audience if you do not have a clear plan of the "tonal" trajectory. Which brings up point

8 - Does your harmonic plan cover enough ground to warrant the length of the work?

If your piece revolves around 3 chords, for 10 minutes, then chances are it is too long. (I love country/western music - no really - but I don't think I could deal with a c/w song that went on for 10 minutes. There just tends to not be enough harmonic material to support that length of time)