Polish Dance by Edmund Severn arranged for Viola and Piano by Alan Arnold

Born in Nottingham, England, in 1862, Edmund Severn moved to the United States at the age of four along with his family who settled in Hartford, Connecticut. Severn began to study the Violin with guidance from his father, who taught the instrument professionally. He later studied with Franz Milcke and Bernard Listemann, concertmaster of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, before moving to Berlin to study bowing technique under Emanuel Wirth, the first assistant of Joseph Joachim at the Berlin Hochschule. As a composer Edmund Severn wrote mainly orchestral music, as well as many pieces for the Violin including a concerto; he also wrote three string quartets. To this day, the Polish Dance for Violin and Piano has remained Severn ’s most famous work. The piece is arranged here by Alan Arnold for Viola and Piano.