Mumma: Sixpac Sonatas
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- Composer: Gordon Mumma (1935-)
- Instrumentation: Piano
- Work: Sixpac Sonatas
- ISMN:
- Size: 9.1 x 11.9 inches
- Pages: 24
Description
The Sixpac Sonatas began with an invitation in 1985 to contribute a short composition to a Festschrift for musicologist H. Wiley Hitchcock (Sonata No. 1). A structure based on that of Domenico Scarlatti's harpsichord sonatas or John Cage's Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano was deemed appropriate for this scholar of eighteenth-century music. The template idea took hold, eventually expanding into six sonatas, the last of which (no. 6) was completed in 1997. Some are formally strict, consisting of a repeated A and B section with coda derived from the material of the previous sections; others feature continual variation of the musical material interspersed with contrasting fragments. All are notated in measures of five eighth-note valueswithout meter signature as a means of establishing pulse without the habitual practice of rig-idly accented downbeats. Metronome markings refer to the eighth notes, and are approximate landmarks in a continuity of discretely flexible tempos.
The Sixpac Sonatas are playable on any keyboard instrument, whether modern piano, fortepiano, or harpsichord; their four-octave range accommodates historical keyboards. The dy-namic indications refer to both hands when centered between the staves, or to a single hand or musical line when placed accordingly. in the absence of dynamic variation when these sonatas are played on the harpsichord, greater liberty with tempo variation may be appropriate. The expressive possibilities should be understated in performance, particularly on the piano.
With the exceptions of the earlier Sonata No. 1, the Sixpac Sonatas use only-flats as chromatic alterations. Accidentals apply only to the pitch that they immediately precede within that register and within that single measure. By applying this rule-of-thumb, the performer should attain the expected reading. Nevertheless ambiguities required the modest addition of cautionary accidentals, notably in passages where an inflected and uninflected version of thsame pitch appear in different ranges either simultaneously or in very close proximity within a single musical gesture.
The dedications also include Julia Wilson Jones (an architect from London), Homer Keller (composer and teacher), and David W. Bernstein (theorist-musicologist). My thanks to Michelle Fillion for her assistance in preparing this edition. The Sixpac Sonatas may be consumed in any order or quantity, as the performer chooses.
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Mumma: Sixpac Sonatas
