Elliott Schwartz

violin, piano

Memorial in Two Parts for violin and piano, commissioned by the McKim Fund in the Library of Congress, was begun late in 1987 and completed in January 1988. The work's title reveals a good deal of its expressive intent and overall structure. It consists of two movements, each dedicated to the memory of a friend and colleague who had recently died. The opening movement is concerned with the outstanding pianist Andrew Wolf, who combined a highly successful concert career with administration (the Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine, and the Boston area's All-Newton School) and teaching (including a number of years at Bowdoin College). In the second movement, the focus shifts to Gabriel Brogyanyi, a Bowdoin faculty colleague whose field was nominally Romance Languages (French and Italian), but who felt equally at home with German culture and with a great range of European art music.