Averitt: Tripartita for Clarinet, Violin & Piano

Instrumentation: Clarinet, Violin & Piano
Duration: 22′
Composed: 1988
Published by: Verdehr Trio

Tripartita is a title invented for this score, a piece in three movements for three players. The first movement Elaborations is a sonata-like structure whose ideas evolve out of the harmonic succession heard as the background material of the opening passage. The second and third movements are based on essentially the same scalar and harmonic materials as the first; however, they are somewhat different in their moods and expression, in part because they both incorporate elements derived from popular music idioms of the early part of the twentieth century. The form of the second movement, Dances,is related to the nineteenth century scherzo with two trios; here, the scherzo sections are fast and jazzy,while the more relaxed digressions are, respectively, a ragtime-waltz and a tango. The third movement Blues with Variations follows without pause, and furthermore is linked structurally to the previous movements, since the chord sequence for the blues (and subsequent variations) is the same one employed from the very opening of the work. —William Averitt