JAVS Spring 2026

Featured Article

Rhythm as the Musical Soul in Adès’ Three Berceuses from ‘The Exterminating Angel’ for

Viola and Piano by Brightin Rose Schlumpf

changes, including the 1/6 measures that form the central focus of this study. By comparing the viola work with Adès’ opera The Exterminating Angel , I examine how the opera’s text informs his choice of unconventional meters. Through mathematical and textual analysis, I argue that rhythm functions as a primary expressive force in the composition. I further consider how both the text and the irregular meters shape the violist’s interpretive decisions in this passage. Drawing on Adès’ performance directions, the origins of The Exterminating Angel , and the opera’s libretto, this study offers a clearer and more informed framework for understanding and performing Berceuse no. 2. Thomas Adès (b. 1971) is a British composer, pianist, and conductor whose output includes operas, orchestral works, chamber music, choral compositions, and solo instrumental pieces. Among his three operas is The Exterminating Angel (2016), which has served as a significant source of material for several later works. Three Berceuses from The Exterminating Angel for viola and piano (2018) is Adès’s only composition for solo viola. In addition to the viola Berceuses , Adès reworked material from the opera in Berceuse from The Exterminating Angel for solo piano (2018), The Exterminating Angel Symphony (2020), and Four Berceuses from The Exterminating Angel for clarinet, viola, and piano (2021). 2 Buñuel, Surrealism, and the Aesthetics of Unreason Berceuse from The Exterminating Angel for Solo Piano (2018) is based on the same musical material from The Exterminating Angel as the viola Berceuse no. 2, and a detailed comparison between these scores would be a compelling subject for further study. The Exterminating Angel Symphony (2020) incorporates themes taken

Introduction: Rhythm as Musical Meaning In The Geometry of Musical Rhythm , Godfried Toussaint quotes Martin L. West’s assertion that “rhythm is the vital soul of music.” 1 Three Berceuses from The Exterminating Angel for viola and piano by Thomas Adès—the subject of this study—embodies this idea through its novel and highly idiosyncratic use of meter. The rhythmic language of the work generates a tense, unsettled atmosphere that is central to its expressive character. Drawn from some of the opera’s most striking musical material, the Berceuses are closely linked to Adès’ opera The Exterminating Angel , from which they derive both musical substance and dramatic intent. Because of this operatic origin—and the viola’s close association with the human voice—the opera’s text plays a crucial role in shaping an informed interpretation of the score. Berceuse Tradition and Dramatic Origins Berceuses are typically associated with lullabies and often carry reflective or soothing characteristics. The first two berceuses in Adès’ work draw directly from duets in The Exterminating Angel between the ill-fated engaged couple, Beatriz and Eduardo, who tragically meet their deaths at the end of the second berceuse. The third and final berceuse, marked Berceuse Macabre , is based on a scene from Act III in which the character Silvia cradles a dead lamb, believing she is rocking her son to sleep. The Berceuses were commissioned for violist Lawrence Power, and I had the unique opportunity to hear him perform the work in August 2024 in Aspen, an experience that sparked my interest in studying and performing Three Berceuses from The Exterminating Angel .

Contextualizing Three Berceuses within Adès’ Output Measures 25–31 of Berceuse no. 2 contain frequent meter

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, No. 1, Spring 2026

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