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the notion that the viola is the observer, telling the story in more complete statements
than the earlier banter or “conversation” of the winds.
Example 1.3: Black Roller, Viola melody and voice leading, mm. 13-16
The sections between § and § all evoke stillness in some way. A woodwind
chorale signals a texture change at {C∣, allowing the viola line to stand out from the rest of
the ensemble in a more pronounced manner. In this section, the viola melody
occasionally reiterates the melodic and rhythmic motives x, y, and c, and the passage
culminates with two more statements of motive c in the upper range of the instrument.
The accompanying woodwind chorale is made up of open intervals that possibly signify
the stillness that Larsen describes, though the following sections share this character to an
extent. At § there are several short tutti rests that contribute to the motionlessness, and
the word shimmering is indicated in the fourth bar of this section, perhaps adding to the
atmosphere of “deathly stillness.”
Several major changes happen in the section beginning at § (m. 34), yet there is
some ambiguity as to where this section falls within the narrative. Here, the meter
changes to 5/4 and the viola line subsides as the other strings make their initial entrances.
Like the woodwinds in the opening, the violin and cello play in rhythmic unison.
Throughout ∣D∣, the open intervals between the violin and cello, marked legato, dolce,