Vivian Fine

 

Compositions

***

 

Gertrude and Virginia: a Dialogue between Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf, using their own words


year

1981


duration

9 minutes


instrumentation

Soprano, mezzo-soprano or contralto, clarinet, percussion, piano and double bass


text

Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf


première

June 8, 1981, Carnegie Recital Hall, New York City. Rosalind Rees, soprano, Kimball Wheeler, mezzo-soprano, Virgil Blackwell, clarinet, Lewis Paer, double bass, Sarah Tenney and Daniel Levitan, percussion, and Vivian Fine, conductor.


program notes

Gertrude and Virginia is taken from Fine’s chamber opera The Women in the Garden. Sections that feature Stein and Woolf are scored for a reduced ensemble.


reviews

“…a whimsical dialogue between the two writers, Gertrude Stein and Virginia Woolf. Miss Fine’s touch was unfailingly light.”

–Bernard Holland, The New York Times, June 11, 1981