Gideon Lewensohn’s ViolAlive: The Composer as Stage Director – Recontextualization of the Concerto as a Gestural Genre

Authors

  • Sara Zamir Bar-Ilan University Author

Keywords:

Theater Music, Gideon Lewensohn, ViolAlive

Abstract

The current study explores musical gesture as the constitutive element in ViolAlive, a contemporary work for viola and ensemble. The piece is defined as “Theater Music,” and consists of two gestural layers: overt and covert. The overt gestures, that is, the struggle that the viola undergoes, and the stage layout, are explicitly set out in the composer’s instructions at the front of the score. The covert gestures are participants in a cultural discourse, which gains in dramatic quality as a result of the viola’s existential struggle. These gestures are, in fact, very subtle musical allusions to the Western musical canon and, as such, function as sources of strength and endurance for the struggling viola and as musical locomotives. Thus, it can be said that ViolAlive re-contextualizes the Concerto as a gestural, theatrical genre. 

Author Biography

  • Sara Zamir, Bar-Ilan University

    Sara Zamir completed her PhD in April 2005, at the Department of Music, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. The work was approved with high distinction.  Since then, she has been teaching courses in Music History, as well as at interdisciplinary seminars, in cooperation with the Department of Comparative Literature at the university. Her research focuses on the part of literary text in compositional decision-making, discussing works of various styles and eras.  She is also the director of the concert office of the Department.

     

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Published

2025-05-08

Issue

Vol. 9 (2011)

Section

Articles