Sonata for Flute solo, Op. 118

Alan Hovhaness: Sonata for Flute solo, Op. 118 was written in 1954 and dedicated to Samuel Baron, the legendary American flautist and founding member of the New York Woodwind Quintet. Baron was a tireless advocate for Hovhaness’s chamber music during the 1950s. It was premiered by Samuel Baron in 1954 in New York City.
In 1954, Hovhaness was operating at a unique intersection of Armenian monody and Indian rhythmic logic. He had been studying Indian classical music in Boston since the mid-1940s. He learned to play the sitar from local Indian musicians and hosted prominent Indian performers in his home. At the same time, in 1954, Hovhaness was deeply immersed in his "Armenian period. In Sonata Op. 118, these influences blend into a "universalist" style that Hovhaness called his "Spirit World" aesthetic.
Hovhaness noted that the Armenian Sharakan (hymn) and the Indian Raga shared a fundamental concept: the sanctity of the single, unaccompanied line. In Op. 118, he uses Armenian-style melismas (ornamental vocal flourishes) but subjects them to the strict interval constraints of a specific Indian raga. The Sonata is composed in three ragas (modes).
While the melodies feel "Armenian" in their vocal yearning, the rhythmic execution is purely "Indian." Specifically, the second movement (Allegro) utilizes the Jhala, a sitar technique where a melody note is repeatedly interspersed with a "drone" or "sparkle" note. On the flute, he achieves this through rapid register leaps that mimic the plucking of a sitar string.
Despite his creative peak, Hovhaness was living in near-poverty in New York in 1954. He relied heavily on the support of performers like Samuel Baron to bring his music to the public, as he did not hold a traditional academic post at the time.