Dr. Immanuel T. Abraham, D.M.A. graduated from the Fred Fox School of Music in 2018, with his doctorate in Violin Performance, summa cum laude. He authored the dissertation titled “J.S. Bach’s Chaconne: A Performer-Composer’s Approach to Interpretation”. During his degree studies, he served simultaneously as the Concertmaster of the University of Arizona Symphony Orchestra under Dr. Thomas Cockrell, and the Arizona Contemporary Ensemble under Dr. Daniel Asia, who was also his composition professor.
Throughout this time, and dating back to 2010, he worked to complete a masterpiece— a book of advanced violin repertoire reflecting the musical globalism and diversity of the 21st century.
By the last day of 2020, he finally published his “24 Caprices for Solo Violin”. The book is now available on his website, www.TheViolinDoctor.org . Here are his words about this exciting contribution to the string world.
“This 68-page compilation of advanced solo violin repertoire I have worked for more than 1/3 of my life.
The choice to write “24” is a tribute to four violinists, revered from the 18th century through today:
• Pierre Gaviniès (1728-1800)
• Pierre Rode (1774-1830)
• Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840)
• Jakob Dont (1815-1888)
All of them wrote 24 caprices for solo violin, and each set evolved the art of violin performance forevermore. After Dont, the 24-caprice tradition abruptly stopped for over 170 years, until now!
Mine are are performance pieces — not études like Gaviniès, Rodes, or Dont — and more akin to Paganini’s, in this way.
My set started from always seeking out very diverse audiences, and always writing my own music for them whenever possible. These included large rock-concert amphitheaters, juried doctoral-recitals, yoga summits, American String Teacher’s Association (ASTA) conferences, a livestream series in Nigeria, university commencements, solo soundtracking for theaters and film festivals, and much more.
Over the years, my twenty-four favorites from those performances became my “24 Caprices for Solo Violin”. This multi-genre collection contains clear influences of the baroque (three fugues), romanticism, impressionism, jazz, American fiddle, rock, tango, and more. They are all new, tonal, and eclectic compositions that purposefully fill the gaps I experienced in the extant solo violin repertoire.
Most importantly, this collection reflects musical globalism and diversity that is appropriate, and due, to the 21st century. Distribution has already reached Mexico, Egypt, and Russia.
Over the years several of these have been distributed individually. I have enjoyed many brilliant performances by colleagues, professors, students, and other artists. Here, for the first time, all twenty-four are presented together. I enthusiastically look forward to every performance following this edition!”