Josef Aschan: "A Violinist’s Musical Thoughts"

1st movement: Präludium largamente A-minor • Tranquillo ma non troppo
	I was motivated to write this piece of music seeing the beautiful landscape of the southern Dolomites around Amlach near Lienz/East Tyrol. The first picture: The impressive mountain range of the Spitzkofel with the fast moving river Drau seen from the bridge Drausteg. The Tranquillo ma non troppo is presented as such: The wind is playing with a ripe cornfield in front of the Amlach wood. Photo: Prof. Aschan


2nd movement: Menuetto grazioso A-major
Menuetto grazioso is a bird concert in the Amlach wood. A hiker is walking through it, guitar in his hands. Being motivated by the tolling of the Chatholic church bells he plays the basic theme with the four beats, followed by a bird whistling the same theme, played by a violinist in ‘flageolett’. The pizzicati intimate the hopping of the birds. You can hear a cuckoo and the tapping of a woodpecker on a thin hollow tree.	Photo: Prof. Aschan
Again a short intermezzo on the guitar, then the colloratura of the birds in the middle part with the magnificent Forituri of three to four octaves of a violin.

3rd movement: Allegro agitato D-major • Grave doloroso A-minor • Lament with imitation of Balalaika A group of Cossack musicians on holiday in Amlach are driving through the wood on hourses and carts. Right at the beginning in the Allegro agitato you can hear the horses in pizzicato, followed by the transition in the Largamente to the Lament in A-minor. At first the violin plays solo, in the repeat the imitation of a Balalaika.
4th movement: Choral G-minor • Maestoso religioso Choral in G-minor at a memorial service in the Amlach church. Also played is the Lament commemorating the Cossack tragedy of 1st June 1945 in the Peggetz nears Lienz/East Tyrol.

5th movement: Largamente • Allegro agitato • Largamente Leaving the church the congregartion is being surprised by a thunderstorm in the Amlach wood. Dark clouds appear, lightening flashes and the storm is moving the trees of the wood. When the storm abates the people are calmed again with the pleasant melodies of the Largamente. Again lightening flashes, thunder rolls and this leads to the 6th movement.

6th movement: Finale maestoso • Presto • Largamente

A Finale in Presto, hail is setting in and you can hear its rattling short notes. The thunderstorm in Largamente is followed by a pizzicato, the main theme with the accords in the solo violin, which continues the melody in tonal and atonal harmonies.
The echo of the tolling of the Amlach church bells is being heard, fading slowly in septaccords. The main theme is heard two more times, in the first and the fifth variation of this piece, and finishes with a pizzicato.

Spitzkofel
Photo: Prof. Aschan

In this way the piece „A Violinist’s Musical Thoughts" is completed in words, pictures and music.