Instrumental Music

“Fugue on a Theme by Dvořák”

DESCRIPTION:  Red Cedar Chamber Music invited me to participate in a group-commissioning project in which each composer was asked to write a variation in his or her own style based on the main theme from the Scherzo movement of Dvořák's “American” Quartet, Opus 96.

The entire work was named “Spillville Variations on a Theme by Dvořák” in honor of Spillville, Iowa, the place where Dvořák composed his famous quartet in 1893.

I decided to make my variation a fugue, since I thought this would make a unique contribution to the project as a whole.

The “Spillville Variations” are featured on Red Cedar's CD “Czech Inspired.”

SOUND CLIPS:
♦  Main theme (transcribed by Jan Boland)
♦  My variation (a fugue)

SCORING:  Flute, viola, guitar

QUOTE:  “Peter Bloesch's music is exhilarating and fun! The variation he provided us for 'Spillville Variations on a Theme by Dvořák' sparkles with a savory mix of Baroque fugal technique and a sense of Hollywood bravura and dramatic climax.

Peter's ability to achieve a fullness of sound with the modest forces of flute, viola, and guitar — while also employing a broad palette of harmonic and contrapuntal elements — is really quite astonishing and totally satisfying!”

— John Dowdall, Guitarist and Former Artistic Director of Red Cedar Chamber Music