George Rochberg’s Caprice Variations for Unaccompanied Violin

The purpose of this treatise is to analyze the Caprice Variations for Unaccompanied Violin (1970) by George Rochberg from a performer's perspective. The Caprice Variations amalgamates many historical compositional styles that require a performer's musical understanding and technical capabilities. To provide insight into Rochberg's compositions, Chapter Two gives a biographical review of his life. Tragedy, such as his son's death, provoked his musical style to shift from an atonal to a tonal language. Emerging from this event in his life, Rochberg's work was strongly influenced by earlier composers. This treatise will trace how Rochberg transformed music from influential composers into his modern compositions. The Caprice Variations include eleven quoting works from Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Mahler and Webern. The remaining forty non-quoting variations are arranged by musical style in Chapter One, Table 1.1. The table also includes a summary of the fifty-one variations and is organized with the following headings: Quoting and Non-quoting, Timing, Tempo Marking, Music Example, Techniques, and Performance Recommendations. In summary, this treatise analyzes the Caprice Variations from a theoretical and a performance perspective. This treatise will offer interpretations based on the writer's experience as a violinist, providing students a valuable resource to study and perform Rochberg's work.