Editor’s Note: In 1995 Elliot Weisgarber undertook a reworking for violin and harp of his Six Miniatures After Hoksai written in 1972 for violin and piano. The new version, entitled Views of Mount Fuji, was dedicated to his friends Victor and Rita Costanzi.
Originally, the new work contained all six “miniatures” but, in the course of preparing the premiere performance, Rita noted that two of the pieces required different tunings for the botto two strings on the harp. As these two strings are not connected to the pedal tuning mechanism they require manual adjustment which would disturb the flow of the performance. In consultation with the composer the Costanzis elected to remove two of the “miniatures” from the set reducint the number of the Views of Mount Fuji to four.
In addition, the tuning requirements of the two “orphaned” pieces differed from each other, making it unwieldy for them to be performed together. Therefore, I made the decision to present each of the “orphans” as a stand-alone piece.
The notes that follow are an abridged version of Weisgarber’s lengthy program notes which appear in their entirety with the score for Views of Mount Fuji.
