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Birthdays:

Dying days:

Events:

Orchestra

• Dawn (1988)
• Fanfare (1992)
• Music In 6 Parts (2000) [1.-3. Concerto in F; 4. Drumming; 5. Wait Till the Sun Shines Nellie; 6.]

Chamber music

• Lullaby (1970) guitar
• Sonatina (1973-4) harp, pn
• In Memoriam (1974) 2 tpts, 2 hns, marimba
• Waltz (1976) vc, pn
• Sonata for Two Pianos #1 (1976, rev 1989)
• Amor Dammi Quel Fazzolettino (1976) pn-4 hands
• Fast/Short (1977) 2 pns
• Last Dance (1979) 2 pns, perc
• Flute Sonata (1982)
• Worldes Blis (1982) picc tpt, 2 tpts, hn, 2 tbns, 4 timp
• Quartet (1983) fl, cl, vn, vcl, pn
• Pastorale (1983) bs tbn, organ
• American Songs (1984) ob, cl, bn
• Chaconne (1984) vn, marimba, tubular bells
• Trio (1984) h, bs tbn, pn
• String Quartet 1 (1985)
• String Quartet 2 (1986)
• String Quartet 3 (1986)
• String Quartet 4 (1987)
• String Quartet 5 (1988)
• String Quartet 6 (1989)
• Two Duos (1997-98) vn, pn
• Adagio (2000) fl, ob, cl, hn, bn
• Dance of Life (2001) 2 pns, electric keyboard, electric vn, electric guitar, 2 perc, tape

Vocal music

• Pistis Sophia (1970) solo voice
• Black Tea (1982) sop, cb, harp, perc
• A Margarita Debayle (1982) sop, pn
• Madrigals (1983-1987) SATB, vcl, pn [Love is Colder Than Death; Salve Regina; Interlude; Seiklos Song]
• Danny Boy (1986) ten, pn
• La Mejor Tinta (1987) bar, pn
• Songs For a Dead Hero (1987) bar, pn [Fragmento; Milonga de Calandria; Elsa; Yo/La Luna/Efialtes; Un Cuchillo En El Norte; Milonga De Dos Hermanos; Camden; Milonga De Jacinto Chiclana; Una Rosa Y Milton/Piano Interlude; Ritter, Tod, Und Teufel; Milonga De Manuel Flores; Las Cosas; Una Manana De 1649; El Sueno; El Suicida; No Eres los Otros; A Un Poeta Menor De La Antologia]
• The Sound of Trees (1995) orch, mezzo-sop
• Song Set (1996) voice, pn [Give All To Love; Her Reply; Ave Maria; Death Be Not Proud; El Dorado; When I Was A Bachelor; Come Lovely And Soothing Death; The House On The Hill; Wild Nights; O Captain! My Captain!; Hallelujah! I’m a Bum; The Soul Selects Her Own Society]
• Quare (1996) sop, pn
• Love Songs (1997) ten, pn [Aqui Te Amo; Para Mi Corazon; Ah Vastedad De Pinos; En Su Llama Mortal; En Mi Cielo; Cuerpo De Mujer; Ebrio De Trementina; Es La Manana]
• Whitman (2000) sop, mezzo-sop, bar, 2 pns, perc
• The Love Duet (2000) sop, ten, pn

Piano solo

• Fantasy (1970)
• Fugamericana (1970)
• 3 Dog Pieces (1970)
• Piano Piece 1 (1972)
• Piano Piece 2 (1974)
• Intermezzo (1977)
• 2 Pieces in F (1978)
• Sonata 1 (1979)
• Sonata 2 (1979)
• Sonata 3 (1980)
• Sonata 4 (1982)
• Sonata 5 (1984)
• Sonata 6 (1985)
• 3 Sonatinas (1994)
• Blues (1996)
• Sonata 7 (2001)

Organ solo

• Organbook (1981)
• Dance (1981)
• 3 Chorales (1983)
• Harmonizations (1983)
• Libera Me (1986)

Currently I am writing in a neo-romantically minimalist style. I seek to redefine how time is perceived in music. I use a wide range of musical techniques (secondal harmony, clusters, tonalism, low-contrast color fields) over a vast expanse of time. Most of my works at this time are between an hour and three hours of uninterrupted music.

Allan Kozinn (NY Times, 3/12/02) writes, "Mr. Violette is a Romantic with Minimalist leanings, although his language does not easily fit into either category. His Romanticism, in other words, is evident in his penchant for monumental chord blocks and swirling filigree, but there is also a hefty measure of more contemporary dissonance and angularity. He has adopted the Minimalists’ techniques of repetition and gradual expansion, but since his music is somewhat spikier and less consonant than typical Minimalism, one doesn’t hear it as being of the Minimalist school. That said, there were fleeting allusions to traditional Romantic harmony, and allusions to the music of both Steve Reich and Philip Glass, as well as a section that drew on the rhythms and harmonies of stride piano. Yet this was not simply a compendium of musical styles -- Mr. Violette, a composer-pianist in the tradition of Busoni and Sorabji, had sufficient energy and virtuosity for this marathon."

The New Yorker (3/11/02) writes, "Violette is an unsung maverick among New York composers. Prone to indulge in lush, Lisztian harmonies, he also makes use of blistering dissonance and trancelike repetition; the resulting cyclone of sound often resembles a minimalist update of Messiaen’s mystical keyboard pieces."