George Rochberg's Nach Bach and Four Short Sonatas

Abstract

American composer George Rochberg (1918 – 2005) had a pivotal moment in his personal life in 1964: the passing of his young adult son. Shortly thereafter, he abandoned the twelve-tone serialism from previous compositions, a system with which he had previously fully aligned as a devoted student of Luigi Dallapiccola. While his move towards a more eclectic, even neo-romantic style of writing, drew criticism from music circles of the day, Rochberg was steadfast in the development of a new voice that would personalise and give meaning to his recent loss. Nach Bach (written in 1966) makes use of short 6-note rows, but also quotes and refers to many brief moments in Bach’s Sixth Keyboard Partita. ..