Berio's Duetti per due Violini – an introduction
Joseph Puglia
History and intention of composition
Luciano Berio's 34 Duetti per due Violini were written in the period from 1979-1983. The pieces
stem from a conversation the composer had one evening with violinist and teacher Leonardo
Pinzauti, in which Pinzauti lamented that "other than those [duets] of Bartók, there are not enough
violin duets today."12 Berio proceeded to write 34 duets in the following four years, and although
these duets are clearly in Berio's own style and idiom, they are much indebted to Bartók's own set of
44 violin duets.
Much like Erich Doflein's request for Bartók to write "real music" aimed for young students3,
Berio's duets are short musical masterpieces also intended "for school violin teaching"4. Each duet
focuses on one or two musical and technical challenges, and serves to introduce 20th century
musical concepts to students. Some duets (e.g. #1, #12, #24) challenge the students by introducing
different manners of sound production to the student such as sul ponticello, sul tasto, aspro, or
"pppp quasi senza suono". Other duets (#26, #33) involve complicated left hand pizzicato
techniques. Still others (#2, #4) present rhythmic challenges of mixed meters in various
combinations of counting (e.g., 3/8+3/8+2/8, or 4/16+3/16, or 4/16+4/16+3/16).
Since each duet is very short, violinistic techniques are used as a basis for the musical motives of
the piece, the structural development of a duet, or modes of expression in a duet. This means that
finding musical expression in these techniques is in fact what gives character to the whole piece. In
duet #26 for example, the second violin combines the open [A] and [D] strings, with a left hand
pizzicato [A] and a drone [D] in the right hand. This serves as the basis for the accompaniment and
evokes the basic sound world of the duet. These sounds can be thought of to imitate a rosined wheel
and vibrating bridge of a hurdy-gurdy, or perhaps, a tin drum and fiddle. Finding the right sound
for this will make or break a performance of this duet. In duet #4, extreme rhythmic complexities
(4/16+4/16+3/16 and 4/16+3/16 in the first two bars) are actually heard by the listener as an
imitation of a folk-like manner of rubato. This gives the audience a very different experience than
the performer – while the performer is doing his or her best to count a very precise notation, the
audience instead hears an expressive rubato in a very simple melody.
1 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note)
2 Universal Edition work introduction to Berio's Duetti per due violini
3 Vikarius
4 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983), Preface
Theater
Central to any study of the Duetti is Berio's idea of theater in music. He speaks of his theatrical
ideal as bringing together opposite ideas, and having these opposites combine to make a third idea7.
For Berio, the ideal theatrical element in music consists of bringing together these opposites in
order to create a scene which had not existed before. In an interview with Rosanna Dalmonte, he
speaks directly of this, saying that:
"it is that of taking two simple and banal behaviors, such as 'walking in the rain' and
'typing' and putting them together in such a way that they transform and produce by
morphonogenesis a third behavior, which we don't understand because we have not seen it
before and because it is no longer only the combination of two banal behaviors8."
It is therefore imperative to a successful performance of these works that each voice sounds
individually, in its own character. Each line should have its own individual integrity, with the
combination of two lines creating a third expression, audible to the audience. Duet #24 is perhaps a
perfect example of this – Berio asks the second violin to play an accompaniment line "sempre molto
al ponticello", whereas the first violin plays a Sicilian folk song melody ordinario, but con sordino.
The combined effect of sul ponticello in the second violin and con sordino in the first violin
suggests to the audience the sound of an old scratchy record playing softly in the distance.
Throughout the entire duet cycle Berio frequently asks for the two players to play in completely
different manners from each other. He asks for differences in tone color, dynamics, articulation,
and tempo. In duet #1, the first violin begins sul tasto while the second violin begins sul ponticello.
In duet #17, both violinists are given different dynamics for the majority of the piece - the second
violin is asked to play mp sempre e impassibile, while the first violin (playing a much more melodic
and ornamented line) is marked pp con sordino. Many duets call for a mute to be used by only one
player (e.g, #13, #17, #24). In duet #2, the second violin plays an accompaniment rhythm which
imitates a drum-like dance of [3/8+3/8+2/8], while the first violin plays a melody which phases
against that, sounding as a [2/8+2/8+3/8+3/8]. And in duets #22 and #27, the first and second violin
are given different metronome markings from each other. Even when writing in more traditional
manners in the Duetti, Berio still adheres to this principle of independence. In some cases, what
would naturally be considered to be the "accompaniment" line is instead marked by Berio to be
played much louder than the "melody".
This theatrical ideal is also one of the central ideas separating Berio's music from earlier classical
music which might be more familiar to young students. In music of Mozart, Schubert, or
Mendelsson, for example, prominent melodies are usually enhanced by accompaniment lines and
textures which exist to serve the melody. However in the Duetti, as in many other modern works, it is not always clear which line is melody and which is accompaniment. In duet #17, a D major scale
played by the second violin, although less melodically interesting and less expressively performed,
will by definition of the way it is written, be the more prominently heard voice. The independence,
individuality, and combination of voices is what gives expression to to the piece. This idea of
melodic and rhythmic independence is central to much 20th century music and can also be compared
to the loss of point perspective in 20th century painting. Whereas in earlier periods of art, the viewer
was asked to direct their focus towards one point on the canvas, with the loss of perspective the
viewer is instead invited to see the entire canvas as a field, to see any point as a possible central
focal point (as in cubism, for example), and can therefore find central points of expression and
meaning on any point of the canvas.
5 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983)
6 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983)
7 Berio, Luciano. Intervista sulla musica a cura di Rossana Dalmonte 158
8 Berio, Luciano. Intervista sulla musica a cura di Rossana Dalmonte 113
9 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983)
Instructions for performance
Berio's original intention was to have his 34 duets be "volume 1" of a multi-volume
"kaleidoscope"10, with each set consisting of at least 20 duets, although he was not able to realize
this goal.11 He intended these pieces for study by young students and had specific ideas about their
performance, saying that
Some […] can be played by beginners, others […] by more advanced pupils, together with
their teachers […]. If the Duets are performed in front of an audience, it is preferable to
involve a large number of players of different age and proficiency. All the players (at least
24) will be seated on stage: Each pair will stand up only when it is its turn to play. There
should not be any pause between each duet. In a concert performance Duet 20
(EDOARDO) should be played last by all performers under a conductor.12
Duet #20 also contains seven brief solos in the first violin part, Berio asks that each of these solos is
played by a different performer.13
In my workshops and performances I have divided the difficulty of each duet part into easy,
intermediate, and difficult categories. In some cases both the 1st and the 2nd violin parts fall into the
same category (#28, for example, is "easy" for both players, whereas #33 is "difficult" for both). In
other duets one part is significantly more difficult than the other (#3 has a difficult 1st violin part and
an "intermediate" 2nd violin part, #17 has an "intermediate" 1st violin part and an "easy" 2nd violin
part). One can assume that the age of the performer should be related to the difficulty of the duet –
in other words, the "easy" duets should be played by young students on smaller violins, the
"intermediate" duets by more advanced students, and the "difficult" duets by teachers, professionals,
and the most advanced students. I have recorded and performed the duets in this manner and I have
found that there is indeed a musical logic to this approach.
However, Berio does not state the age or level a student needs to be in order to play specific duets.
This means that although many of the easiest duets do benefit in their expression from being
interpreted by young students playing on smaller violins, equally valid interpretations of these
"easy" duets can be given by older, more advanced players. One of the most interesting aspects of
these pieces is how different they can sound when played by different performers. In Duet #17, the
second violinist plays almost exclusively a one octave D major scale for the entire piece. It goes
without saying that this duet has an entirely different emotional effect if the second violinist is a
child playing on a small violin or a seasoned performer playing on a full-sized instrument. And the
pedagogical intentions of this duet remains regardless of age or level of performer – indeed, we
violinists continue to practice and search for improvements in our D major scales for our entire
lives!
Berio's compositional choices in these pieces and his instructions for their performance imply that
one of the central ideas behind a performance of the Duetti is a feeling of equality among all
players. Although some performers might be more experienced than others, each violinist
contributes a sound and interpretation which is unique in a performance of the entire duet cycle.
This variety and individuality of sound adds to the flow of dramatic tension in a complete
performance of the cycle. The sound created by a seven year old violinist playing on a 1/4 sized
violin is necessarily different from that of a professional with over 20 years of performing
experience playing on a full-sized instrument. Neither player is capable of imitating the other, and
any attempt to do so would sound contrived. The best that young and old players can do in these
works is to strive for the most convincing interpretation of which they are capable.
10 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note)
11 Universal Edition work introduction to Berio's Duetti per due violini
12 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983), Preface
13 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (1979-1983), Preface
Dedications
Each duet is named after a friend, colleague, or composer whom Berio admired. Of the dedications,
he states:
behind every duet there are personal reasons and situations: with BRUNO (Maderna), for
instance, there is the memory of “functional” music which we often composed together in
the fifties; MAJA (Pliseckaja) is the transformation of a Russian song, whereas ALDO
(Bennici) is a real Sicilian song; PIERRE (Boulez) was written for a farewell evening: it
develops from a small cell of his ...Explosante fixe...; GIORGIO FEDERICO (Ghedini) is in
memory of my years at the Conservatory in Milan. And so on... These Duetti are for me what
the vers de circonstance were for Mallarmé: that is, they are not necessarily based on deep
musical motivations, but rather connected by the fragile thread of daily occasions.14
Following, I have outlined some of my thoughts surrounding Berio's source materials for the
dedications to show how varied this "fragile thread of daily occasions" can be.
Duet #1 - BELA
An obvious place for the cycle to begin, since Berio almost certainly chose this dedication as
an homage to Bartók's 44 duets for two violins. Although I have found no direct quote of
Bartók's music in this duet, the opening rising and falling of a second (D E) in the second
violin is perhaps remeniscent of the rising second (E F) in Bartok's duet #10 (Ruthenian
song), Berio's use of the first violin's circling around the modes of [E] and [B] is remeniscent
of Bartók's same duet. And the bi-modality of Berio's duet is probably influenced by
Bartók's duet #11 (Cradle Song), a very important work in Bartók's set, since it is the first in
that set where both violins play in a different modality, and one of the few in which Bartók
asks the 1st and 2nd violin to play at different dynamic levels (mf and p, respectively).
Duet #6 - BRUNO
Berio says that this duet has "the memory of 'functional' music which we [Berio and Bruno
Maderna] often composed together in the fifties". Berio and Maderna often collaborated on
television and radio music in the 1950s in order to earn extra money, which by his own
account was always lacking at this point in his life. He speaks of this time in an interview
with Rossana Dalmonte in which he and Maderna were working together.
We started writing scores for whatever radio or television program, director, or
theater thought to have needed us. ...we collaborated on "functional" scores at an
astronomical speed. Bruno, already plump, seated at my Milanese table, occupied
himself with the strings and "fixed sounds" (which is what he called the guitar, piano,
celesta, and glockenspiel in the orchestra). I, on my feet at his back, occupied myself
with the wind instruments. We understood each other so well that it was enough to
give one glance at the other's pencil to instantly understand where he was going. We
were always late with our deadlines and I remember one astonished copyist
watching us finish a composition together in this way. He left with his mouth half
open, wide eyes, and blank stare: he resembled a caracature of Ghedini. What I
wanted to say is this: in these occasions of absolute musical cynicism, we always
found a way of searching for something, experimenting, and naturally, of learning
something.15
The functional music is not only represented in the traditional harmonies, phrasing, and
structure of this duet, but the memory of them writing at "astronomical speed" in which they
composed, the idea of them running back and forth to glance at the scores with which they
were busy, is reflected in the back and forth crescendi played by the two violins in the
opening of this duet.
Duet #10 – GIORGIO FEDERICO
In 1945 Berio enrolled at the conservatory in Milan, and three years later began studying
composition with Giorgio Federico Ghedini. Ghedini's style was very much in the neobaroque
tradition, and as a composition teacher he became one of the "major influences of
Berio's early career"16 This duet is said by Berio to be a memory of his conservatory days in
Milan. Ghedini's own neo-baroque influences are here reflected by the chorale-like structure
of this piece. The "baroque" inspiriation for the piece is perhaps even more accentuated by
the focus on the bass line which is marked to be played stronger than the melody line. One
can almost imagine Ghedini telling his students that the bass line is the basis and most
important line in all baroque music, and deserves a special attention.
Duet #17 - LEONARDO
The inspiration for this duet stems from Berio's conversation with Leonardo Pinzauti
lamenting the lack of good violin duets, other than those of Bartok1718. Pinzauti's work as a
violin teacher probably inspired Berio to make this one of the simplest duets for the second
violin (the student's part). Berio underlied this point by having the second violin part consist
almost entirely of a D major scale up and down from [D1] to [D2], five times. It was indeed
of this duet that Berio was speaking when he said:
Very often, as can be heard, one of the two parts is easier and focuses on specific
technical problems, on different expressive characters and even on violin stereotypes,
so that a young violinist can contribute, at times, even to a relatively complex
musical situation from a very simple angle – the playing of a D major scale, for
instance.19
Duet #24
The source material for this duet is Berio's favorite Sicilian song, "e si fussi pisci"20. Berio
himself made many arrangements of the song (including an arrangement for solo viola
which was given to Aldo Bennici, the dedicatee of this duet). Copies of the manuscript of
these arrangements are available at the website of the Centro Studi Luciano Berio online:
http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/1852
as well as:
http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/1854
In addition, a recording of Berio singing the folk song and accompanying himself at the
piano is also available on the Centro Studi website:
http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/1887
The text of the folk song is in a heavy Sicilian dialect:
E si fussi pisci
lu mari passassi
e si fussi aceddu
'nni tia vinissi
e vucca cu vucca
ti vurria vasari
e visu cu visu
parrari cu 'ttia.
This translates in English as:
If I were a fish
I would cross the sea
and if I were a bird
I would come to you
And mouth to mouth
I would like to kiss you
And face to face
I would like to talk to you.
Duet #28
Dedicated to Igor Stravinsky, the A minor tonality and main musical motive of this duet
(repetitions of the tones [D1], [E1]) are both derived from Stravinsky's Five Easy Pieces for
Piano Duet. They also share a strong resemblance to the "violin" motif from A Soldier's
Tale, which has a similar section also in A minor. The allusion to Stravinsky's Five Easy
Pieces is strengthened by the fact that this is one of the easiest duets in a technical sense, and
can therefore be played by some of the youngest students.
14 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note)
15 Berio, Luciano. Intervista sulla musica a cura di Rossana Dalmonte 68-69
16 Osmond-Smith, David. Oxford Studies of Composers Berio 4
17 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note)
18 Universal Edition work introduction to Berio's Duetti per due violini
19 Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note)
20 - from Centro Studi Luciano Berio: http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/1852
Pedagogical applications
Over the past few years I have led many masterclasses and workshops of these pieces with violinists
of all levels. This has given me the opportunity to see the effect these pieces have on students,
many of whom have had little to no prior opportunities to play 20th century music.
Whenever possible I have asked that even the youngest students already be far beyond the technical
level demanded by these pieces. This usually results in the student coming in to the first rehearsal
already having a firm command of the notes in the piece, and then being surprised that there is still
much work to be done. When this happens, students can use these pieces to push their own limits
as performers – to find sounds that are not necessarily beautiful but are still very expressive, to
extend their range of articulation, and to approach chamber music as an impromptu conversation
between equals, rather than an exercise in following a teacher.
Generally, students responded enthusiastically to the Duetti, even if they lacked prior experience
with 20th century music. The duets' firm link to the past, their historical, folk, and other influences
make them accessible to students. Because of this accessibility students are more able to absorb
strange techniques, complex meters, and dissonances more easily than they might with other
modern repertoire.
As a professional performing the Duetti with students, these workshops have also transformed my
own playing, performance skills, and musicianship. It has been my responsibility when performing
with children to find each student's individuality and add my voice to that, rather than to force them
into my own idea of what the piece should be. This is a subtle but important shift from one's
normal approach of striving towards a perfect and ideal interpretation in one's inner ear. When
playing with students or amateur violinists, our normal ideal of a perfect performance is not valid in
the same way. What is possible, however, is finding an individual voice and communicating that
voice to the audience. I have since applied this way of thinking to my other chamber music
performances, which has helped me enormously.
What I also discovered, which surprised me at first, is that the individual personalities of players are
most audible when players are at the highest and lowest levels. Both the most seasoned
professionals and the youngest students tend to play with recognizeable and individual sounds, and
have more variety of approaches than intermediate level violinists. With the oldest and most
experienced players the reasons for this are obvious: experienced players have had the most time to
find their own voice on the violin and develop their own musical personalities. The youngest
students, on the other hand, have had the least time to work beyond personal habits of playing and
holding the instrument that they quickly develop in the first years. Because of this, their own
personalities shine through all the more. A young violinist who has not yet mastered a truly legato
bow change will have his or her own very recognizeable and unique articulation. A student who is
still developing the basics of vibrato and who can only vibrate at one speed and one width will also
have a very specific and individual color present in their sound. The next step in these youngsters'
musical education will be to learn the tools that every violinist must have in his or her repertoire:
mastering not only the basics of sound production, but also developing a wide variety of colors,
articulations, and dynamics. It is only after students learn these tools that they can reach the final
goal: to decide at will which tool to use, and perhaps most importantly, when to break the "rules"
they have learned from their teachers.
Conclusion
Berio intended that the Duetti introduce concepts of 20th century music to violin students. However,
I have found that the Duetti also serve as a great introduction to 20th century music for
inexperienced concertgoers. The pieces are very accessible, and for many different reasons. Berio's
friend Lele D'amico once described him as a musical "omnivore"21, and his interest in all types of
music – jazz, folk, dodecaphonic, baroque, electronic, and more – is audible in these duets. The
short length of each piece assures that even audience members with the shortest attention spans can
listen to an entire work without losing their concentration. Since each duet uses a different
combination of 20th century compositional techniques, audiences are given many different examples
of what kinds of sounds are common in 20th century music. Because of these quick changes in
style, monotony is never an issue. Many of the Duetti still use tonal or modal harmonies (#10 is
triadic and written as a chorale in three voices, #17 drifts between g minor and D major , #24 and
#26 are in D major, #28 in a minor). Familiar harmonies therefore allow audiences to absorb new
concepts and sounds while still listening to chords they understand. And there are theatrical
elements of a live performance which add visual and auditory excitement for the audience member.
Since a different combination of violinists perform almost every duet, audience members are given
an opportunity to hear and compare each performer's individual qualities. Audiences therefore learn
not only about what kinds of variety exist in composition, but also about what kinds of variety exist
in interpretation. And since violinists of all ages and abilities are asked to collaborate as equal
partners on stage, audience members are asked to value each performer's individuality and efforts as
people and musicians, and not only on their technical skill as instrumentalists.
These ideas of equality and collaboration are perhaps best supported by a quote from Berio's
Remarks to the Kind Lady of Baltimore, a speech where he struggles to give an answer to a question
that had once been posed to him after a lecture: "Mr. Berio, how do you relate your work to life?"
He attempts many replies to this quetion, and by his own account, none of his answers fully capture
the relations behind his music and life. However, his ideas imply a spirit of discovery and humanity
which lie at the heart of these duets. In one of his many attempts at an answer, he states
I was only able to answer that I didn't know precisely...I said that in any case a complex
tissue of relations exists and that whatever we do – not necessarily music – is an attempt to
uncover a part of it and to become more aware of what we are and where we are.22
21 Berio, Luciano. Intervista sulla musica a cura di Rossana Dalmonte 110
22 Berio, Luciano. Remarks to the Kind Lady of Baltimore
Bibliography
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1982)
Berio, Luciano. Duetti per due violini (author's note). Retrieved 20/12/2017 from
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Berio, Luciano. Intervista sulla musica a cura di Rossana Dalmonte (Gius, Laterza & Figli, Bari
1981)
Berio, Luciano. Remarks to the Kind Lady of Baltimore. Retrieved 29/1/2018 from
http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/35905?1574735542=1
Centro Studi Luciano Berio. Luciano Berio, E si fussi pisci. Retrieved 29/1/2018 from
http://www.lucianoberio.org/node/1852
Osmond-Smith, David. Oxford Studies of Composers Berio (Oxford University Press, New York,
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Universal Edition work introduction to Berio's Duetti per due violini retrieved 29/1/2018 from
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Vikárius, László. Translated by Richard Robinson. CD liner notes to Bartók: Sonata for Solo Violin
- 44 Duos, Barnabas Kelemen & Katalin Kokas, BMC Records 2006
