Luciano Berio, Sequenza VI for Solo Viola: Performance Practices

Abstract

Luciano Berio describes his Sequenza VI for Solo Viola, written in 1968, as an etude in endurance, strength and intensity.1 The sequenza has two related works: Chemins II, essentially the music from the Sequenza VI accompanied by a chamber ensemble, and Chemins III, which uses a full orchestra in place of the chamber ensemble. The three works use the viola in a way unique to its past history. Stephen Morris writes, Escaping the monodic limitations of various instruments has been a central feature in all of Berio's solo sequenze. Just as the trombone in Sequenza Vand the voice in Sequenza III are called upon to use techniques previously unexplored in their respective repertoires, the viola, too, is put to new tasks. The instrument becomes a tool for creating thickness, polyphony, and tremendous intensity. Berio remarks that there is no phrasing of a conventional nature. The composer asks the performer to do exactly what is written on the page, and yet he implores the violist to with freedom; don't play mechanically. The work is innovative in that it does not use the viola melodically. Walter