La Main Noire, after the Opera Das Märchen, for 3 Violas

Performed at the 2014 IVS Congress in Porto - The writing of La main noire (The Black Hand) is linked to the character of The Old Woman in the opera Das Märchen, inspired by Goethe's symbolic Tale of the Green Serpent and the Beautiful Lily. The title refers to the episode in which the character plunges her hand into the river and sees it come out completely black; after various ordeals and incidents, the hand returns to its normal appearance. In the opera, the Old Woman's vocal line is accompanied by an ensemble made up of three violas, oboe, English horn and bassoon. La main noire uses passages played by these instruments in a range corresponding almost exclusively to the character's tessitura: the alto voice. Certain types of progressions and melodic combinations associated with the Old Woman, such as the small chromatic rises or descents, constitute the musical material for this viola trio. But La main noire also brings out an indirect reference to the spirit of the canzona, which is manifested on the one hand in the treatment of polyphony as well as in the choice of playing style, requiring extremely fluid bowing, and in which senza vibrato sonorities predominate. One of the score's particularities lies in its orchestration by the playing methods: in certain unison passages, for example, each of the three violas uses a different style, with combinations such as ordinario / sul tasto / sul ponticello or else arco / pizzicato / col legno. In a gripping effect, the end of the work makes another type of unison heard, at a distance of one or several octaves, sometimes disturbed by the presence of natural harmonics.

String Trio

• DVS · Catalog of music for Viola Ensemble

• Ricordi