Rudolf Haken
Suite in A Minor for Viola Solo
1981
I wrote this suite at age 15 for my viola teacher Guillermo Perich. Structurally it
resembles a baroque suite, consisting of a prelude and five dances. Harmonically the suite
shows some influence of Reger and Hindemith.
My impetus for composing this suite was that my playing of Bach was criticized as being
“too wild”. I decided to write a “baroque-style” suite myself so that I could play it as I
pleased. (This, in turn, resulted in some criticism from compositional quarters for writing
a work not in keeping with current musical trends.)