Doublet
two violas | 5’30”
Doublet (for two violas) was inspired by modernist painter Charles Sheeler’s Americana (1931). The painting, a still life of a room in the painter’s own South Salem, New York home, is unusual for Sheeler, who spent much of his career painting majestic factories and industrial wonders. Americana depicts a country-style room with an array of quaint objects – a table, a chair, a daybed, a few oval-shaped boxes, a blank piece of paper, a backgammon set. However, the conflicting patterns of the rugs, the unexpected placement of the objects on the table and within the room, the highly unusual cropping, and the unclear light source all render the image quite jarring and unsettling.
There is a sense of great tension in the painting, despite the banality of the objects therein. But there is also a particular beauty Sheeler finds in the seemingly unordered placement of objects and assortment of patterns, recalling a simpler, perhaps freer time, in stark contrast to the rigid geometry of Sheeler’s typical industrial scenes. One particular curiosity is the unfinished backgammon game, which suggests that there were people in the room who abandoned the game before it was finished. One wonders what happened that would cause them to leave mid-course. Did they get bored? Was there an argument? Or did they simply wander off to do something else? This piece imagines what might have happened to them. Its title, Doublet, is the name of a move in backgammon. It is also a reference to the two backgammon players, and of course, the two violists.
Doublet was commissioned by the American Viola Society.
Commission
American Viola Society
Performances
Jessica Meyer and Miranda Cuckson, viola
