Band Concert Band SKU: PR.465000130 For Large Wind Ensemble. Compo...(+)
Band Concert Band
SKU:
PR.465000130
For
Large Wind Ensemble.
Composed by Dan Welcher.
Sws. Contemporary. Full
score. With Standard
notation. Composed 2010.
Duration 14 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#465-00013. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.465000130).
ISBN
9781598064070. UPC:
680160600144. 9x12
inches.
Following a
celebrated series of wind
ensemble tone poems about
national parks in the
American West, Dan
Welcher’s Upriver
celebrates the Lewis &
Clark Expedition from the
Missouri River to
Oregon’s Columbia
Gorge, following the
Louisiana Purchase of
1803. Welcher’s
imaginative textures and
inventiveness are freshly
modern, evoking our
American heritage,
including references to
Shenandoah and other folk
songs known to have been
sung on the expedition.
For advanced players.
Duration:
14’. In 1803,
President Thomas
Jefferson sent Meriwether
Lewis and William
Clark’s Corps of
Discovery to find a water
route to the Pacific and
explore the uncharted
West. He believed woolly
mammoths, erupting
volcanoes, and mountains
of pure salt awaited
them. What they found was
no less mind-boggling:
some 300 species unknown
to science, nearly 50
Indian tribes, and the
Rockies.Ihave been a
student of the Lewis and
Clark expedition, which
Thomas Jefferson called
the “Voyage of
Discovery,†for as
long as I can remember.
This astonishing journey,
lasting more than
two-and-a-half years,
began and ended in St.
Louis, Missouri —
and took the travelers up
more than a few rivers in
their quest to find the
Northwest Passage to the
Pacific Ocean. In an age
without speedy
communication, this was
akin to space travel out
of radio range in our own
time: no one knew if,
indeed, the party had
even survived the voyage
for more than a year.
Most of them were
soldiers. A few were
French-Canadian voyageurs
— hired trappers
and explorers, who were
fluent in French (spoken
extensively in the
region, due to earlier
explorers from France)
and in some of the Indian
languages they might
encounter. One of the
voyageurs, a man named
Pierre Cruzatte, also
happened to be a
better-than-average
fiddle player. In many
respects, the travelers
were completely on their
own for supplies and
survival, yet,
incredibly, only one of
them died during the
voyage. Jefferson had
outfitted them with food,
weapons, medicine, and
clothing — and
along with other
trinkets, a box of 200
jaw harps to be used in
trading with the Indians.
Their trip was long,
perilous to the point of
near catastrophe, and
arduous. The dream of a
Northwest Passage proved
ephemeral, but the
northwestern quarter of
the continent had finally
been explored, mapped,
and described to an
anxious world. When the
party returned to St.
Louis in 1806, and with
the Louisiana Purchase
now part of the United
States, they were greeted
as national heroes.Ihave
written a sizeable number
of works for wind
ensemble that draw their
inspiration from the
monumental spaces found
in the American West.
Four of them (Arches, The
Yellowstone Fires,
Glacier, and Zion) take
their names, and in large
part their being, from
actual national parks in
Utah, Wyoming, and
Montana. But Upriver,
although it found its
voice (and its finale) in
the magnificent Columbia
Gorge in Oregon, is about
a much larger region.
This piece, like its
brother works about the
national parks,
doesn’t try to
tell a story. Instead, it
captures the flavor of a
certain time, and of a
grand adventure. Cast in
one continuous movement
and lasting close to
fourteen minutes, the
piece falls into several
subsections, each with
its own heading: The
Dream (in which
Jefferson’s vision
of a vast expanse of
western land is opened);
The Promise, a chorale
that re-appears several
times in the course of
the piece and represents
the seriousness of the
presidential mission; The
River; The Voyageurs; The
River II ; Death and
Disappointment; Return to
the Voyage; and The River
III .The music includes
several quoted melodies,
one of which is familiar
to everyone as the
ultimate “river
song,†and which
becomes the
through-stream of the
work. All of the quoted
tunes were either sung by
the men on the voyage, or
played by
Cruzatte’s fiddle.
From various journals and
diaries, we know the men
found enjoyment and
solace in music, and
almost every night
encampment had at least a
bit of music in it. In
addition to Cruzatte,
there were two other
members of the party who
played the fiddle, and
others made do with
singing, or playing upon
sticks, bones, the
ever-present jaw harps,
and boat horns. From
Lewis’ journals, I
found all the tunes used
in Upriver: Shenandoah
(still popular after more
than 200 years),
V’la bon vent,
Soldier’s Joy,
Johnny Has Gone for a
Soldier, Come Ye Sinners
Poor and Needy (a hymn
sung to the tune
“Beech
Springâ€) and
Fisher’s Hornpipe.
The work follows an
emotional journey: not
necessarily step-by-step
with the Voyage of
Discovery heroes, but a
kind of grand arch.
Beginning in the mists of
history and myth,
traversing peaks and
valleys both real and
emotional (and a solemn
funeral scene), finding
help from native people,
and recalling their zeal
upon finding the one
great river that will, in
fact, take them to the
Pacific. When the men
finally roar through the
Columbia Gorge in their
boats (a feat that even
the Indians had not
attempted), the
magnificent river
combines its theme with
the chorale of
Jefferson’s
Promise. The Dream is
fulfilled: not quite the
one Jefferson had
imagined (there is no
navigable water passage
from the Missouri to the
Pacific), but the dream
of a continental
destiny.
(Complete Student Version). By Andrew Surmani, Karen Farnum Surmani, and Morton ...(+)
(Complete Student
Version). By Andrew
Surmani, Karen Farnum
Surmani, and Morton
Manus. Reference
Textbooks; Software;
Textbook - General;
Theory. Essentials of
Music Theory. Published
by Alfred Music
Publishing
Chamber Music Piano SKU: PR.140401340 Sketches for Piano. Composed...(+)
Chamber Music Piano
SKU: PR.140401340
Sketches for
Piano. Composed by
Harry T. Burleigh. Edited
by Lara Downes. 16 pages.
Duration 18 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#140-40134. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.140401340).
ISBN
9781491134450. UPC:
680160684953.
Best
known for his settings of
spirituals and influence
on Dvorák, Henry T.
Burleigh was a celebrated
baritone, and a prolific
composer of original
works. FROM THE SOUTHLAND
is a suite of six
atmospheric scenes of the
American south, inspired
by Black musical and
cultural traditions. FROM
THE SOUTHLAND is within
reach of intermediate
pianists and artistically
suited for professional
recitals. In 1835,
Henry T.
Burleigh’s
maternal grandfather
purchased his own release
from slavery for the sum
of $50, and traveled
north out of Maryland to
begin a new life as a
free man. He established
his family in Ithaca, NY,
and then moved to the
bustling lakefront city
of Erie, PA, where three
decades later his
grandson Henry would be
born and raised.For
Burleigh, the
“Southlandâ€
that inspired this
collection of piano
sketches was a distant
place that could not have
been more different from
the physical world he
knew, up there in the
northern snowbelt. And
yet these southern
landscapes and vignettes
must have been intensely
present in his
consciousness, absorbed
through the stories and
songs he first learned at
his grandfather’s
knee.The music of the
South – the
spirituals and work songs
he heard as a child
–would travel with
Burleigh throughout his
long and illustrious
musical life. Even as he
progressed through his
early classical training,
his career as a baritone
soloist in Erie’s
churches and synagogue,
his move to New York to
study at the National
Conservatory of Music,
and his rise to national
prominence as a concert
soloist, these ancestral
melodies stayed firmly
centered in his musical
identity.When he wrote
From the Southland, his
only composition for solo
piano, Burleigh was just
beginning his career as a
composer. The art songs
that would establish him
as one of
America’s best
known composers in the
genre were still to come.
And so were his iconic
arrangements of
spirituals that would
bring the songs of
slavery onto concert
stages around the world,
transformed into timeless
and uniquely American
music.These little piano
sketches bring together
all the things that made
Burleigh the musician he
was – the lush,
late-romantic style of
his time; a broad vision
for American music; and a
profound respect for his
heritage, a memory of the
world his grandfather
left behind, and a love
of the music he brought
with him.
Band Concert Band SKU: PR.46500013L For Wind Ensemble. Composed by...(+)
Band Concert Band
SKU:
PR.46500013L
For
Wind Ensemble.
Composed by Dan Welcher.
Contemporary. Large
Score. With Standard
notation. Composed 2010.
Duration 14 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#465-00013L. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.46500013L).
UPC:
680160600151. 11 x 14
inches.
I n 1803,
President Thomas
Jefferson sent Meriwether
Lewis and William Clarks
Corps of Discovery to
find a water route to the
Pacific and explore the
uncharted West. He
believed woolly mammoths,
erupting volcanoes, and
mountains of pure salt
awaited them. What they
found was no less
mind-boggling: some 300
species unknown to
science, nearly 50 Indian
tribes, and the Rockies.
I have been a student of
the Lewis and Clark
expedition, which Thomas
Jefferson called the
Voyage of Discovery, for
as long as I can
remember. This
astonishing journey,
lasting more than
two-and-a-half years,
began and ended in St.
Louis, Missouri and took
the travelers up more
than a few rivers in
their quest to find the
Northwest Passage to the
Pacific Ocean. In an age
without speedy
communication, this was
akin to space travel out
of radio range in our own
time: no one knew if,
indeed, the party had
even survived the voyage
for more than a year.
Most of them were
soldiers. A few were
French-Canadian voyageurs
hired trappers and
explorers, who were
fluent in French (spoken
extensively in the
region, due to earlier
explorers from France)
and in some of the Indian
languages they might
encounter. One of the
voyageurs, a man named
Pierre Cruzatte, also
happened to be a
better-than-average
fiddle player. In many
respects, the travelers
were completely on their
own for supplies and
survival, yet,
incredibly, only one of
them died during the
voyage. Jefferson had
outfitted them with food,
weapons, medicine, and
clothing and along with
other trinkets, a box of
200 jaw harps to be used
in trading with the
Indians. Their trip was
long, perilous to the
point of near
catastrophe, and arduous.
The dream of a Northwest
Passage proved ephemeral,
but the northwestern
quarter of the continent
had finally been
explored, mapped, and
described to an anxious
world. When the party
returned to St. Louis in
1806, and with the
Louisiana Purchase now
part of the United
States, they were greeted
as national heroes. I
have written a sizeable
number of works for wind
ensemble that draw their
inspiration from the
monumental spaces found
in the American West.
Four of them (Arches, The
Yellowstone Fires,
Glacier, and Zion) take
their names, and in large
part their being, from
actual national parks in
Utah, Wyoming, and
Montana. But Upriver,
although it found its
voice (and its finale) in
the magnificent Columbia
Gorge in Oregon, is about
a much larger region.
This piece, like its
brother works about the
national parks, doesnt
try to tell a story.
Instead, it captures the
flavor of a certain time,
and of a grand adventure.
Cast in one continuous
movement and lasting
close to fourteen
minutes, the piece falls
into several subsections,
each with its own
heading: The Dream (in
which Jeffersons vision
of a vast expanse of
western land is opened);
The Promise, a chorale
that re-appears several
times in the course of
the piece and represents
the seriousness of the
presidential mission; The
River; The Voyageurs; The
River II ; Death and
Disappointment; Return to
the Voyage; and The River
III . The music includes
several quoted melodies,
one of which is familiar
to everyone as the
ultimate river song, and
which becomes the
through-stream of the
work. All of the quoted
tunes were either sung by
the men on the voyage, or
played by Cruzattes
fiddle. From various
journals and diaries, we
know the men found
enjoyment and solace in
music, and almost every
night encampment had at
least a bit of music in
it. In addition to
Cruzatte, there were two
other members of the
party who played the
fiddle, and others made
do with singing, or
playing upon sticks,
bones, the ever-present
jaw harps, and boat
horns. From Lewis
journals, I found all the
tunes used in Upriver:
Shenandoah (still popular
after more than 200
years), Vla bon vent,
Soldiers Joy, Johnny Has
Gone for a Soldier, Come
Ye Sinners Poor and Needy
(a hymn sung to the tune
Beech Spring) and Fishers
Hornpipe. The work
follows an emotional
journey: not necessarily
step-by-step with the
Voyage of Discovery
heroes, but a kind of
grand arch. Beginning in
the mists of history and
myth, traversing peaks
and valleys both real and
emotional (and a solemn
funeral scene), finding
help from native people,
and recalling their zeal
upon finding the one
great river that will, in
fact, take them to the
Pacific. When the men
finally roar through the
Columbia Gorge in their
boats (a feat that even
the Indians had not
attempted), the
magnificent river
combines its theme with
the chorale of Jeffersons
Promise. The Dream is
fulfilled: not quite the
one Jefferson had
imagined (there is no
navigable water passage
from the Missouri to the
Pacific), but the dream
of a continental
destiny.
For Two Flutes. Composed by Robert Maggio (1964-). Contemporary. Set of p...(+)
For Two Flutes.
Composed by Robert Maggio
(1964-). Contemporary.
Set of performance
scores. With Standard
notation. Composed 2014.
8 pages. Duration 2
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-41786.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.114417860).
The Definitive Paul Simon Songbook by Paul Simon. For Melody Line, Lyrics and Ch...(+)
The Definitive Paul Simon
Songbook by Paul Simon.
For Melody Line, Lyrics
and Chords. Music Sales
America. Folk Rock.
Softcover. 560 pages.
Paul Simon Music
#PS11594. Published by
Paul Simon Music
Vocal
Selections. Composed
by Shaina Taub. Vocal
Selections. Broadway.
Softcover. Published by
Hal Leonard (HL.1737924).
UPC:
196288288701.
Suffs
is the Tony
Award®-winning musical
that's making history on
Broadway! Crafted by the
supremely talented Shaina
Taub, she's shattered
ceilings by becoming the
first woman to
single-handedly snag Tony
Awards for both Best Book
and Best Score in the
same year. Beyond its
Tony Award® glory,
Suffs has clinched the
title of Best Musical
from the Outer Critics
Circle, bagged a pair of
Drama Desk Awards
including one for Best
Score, and it's been
hailed as the season's
most heart-stirring
musical by the Chicago
Tribune. This musical
dives into the lives of
the suffragist women,
affectionately known as
âSuffs.â These
women weren't just
intellectual giants in
their pursuit for the
voteâthey were
complex beings, marked by
their persistence, humor,
and the fiery passion
driving their cause.
Suffs unfolds the
tapestry of their
camaraderie, the setbacks
that tested them, and
showcases the push-pull
dynamics that either
united or divided them.
Venturing boldly into an
equality struggle that
echoes into today, Suffs
stands as a theatrical
behemoth, lauded by
Forbes as a
âmust-see,â and
a stirring nudge
reminding us that while
progress is within reach,
it's never a sure thing.
Make your voice heard
with our matching
songbook, featuring 15
songs from the exhuberant
score arranged for vocal
line with piano
accompaniment. Songs
include: Finish the Fight
⢠Great American
B**** ⢠How Long
⢠If We Were Married
⢠Keep Marching
⢠Let Mother Vote
⢠Lucy's Song â¢
The March (We Demand
Equality) ⢠Show
Them Who You Are â¢
Wait My Turn ⢠Worth
It ⢠and more.
A Fun and Simple Guide to Understanding Music Online Audio Access. Music Instruc...(+)
A Fun and Simple Guide to
Understanding Music
Online Audio Access.
Music Instruction. Music
Theory. Softcover Audio
Online. 224 pages.
Published by Hal Leonard
Chamber Music Cello,
Flute, Viola 1, Viola 2,
Violin
SKU:
CF.MXE219
Composed by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Arranged by Robert
Stallman. Sws.
56+16+16+16+16+12 pages.
Carl Fischer Music
#MXE219. Published by
Carl Fischer Music
(CF.MXE219).
ISBN
9781491157794. UPC:
680160916399. 9 x 12
inches.
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Full score.
With Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52 pages. Duration 24
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #164-00272S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.16400272S).
UPC:
680160588442. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.164002720 Cassatt. Composed b...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.164002720
Cassatt. Composed
by Dan Welcher. Spiral
and Saddle. Premiere:
Cassatt Quartet,
Northeastern Illinois
University, Chicago, IL.
Contemporary. Set of
Score and Parts. With
Standard notation.
Composed 2007. WRT11142.
52+16+16+16+16 pages.
Duration 24 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00272. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.164002720).
UPC:
680160573042. 8.5 x 11
inches.
My third
quartet is laid out in a
three-movement structure,
with each movement based
on an early, middle, and
late work of the great
American impressionist
painter Mary Cassatt.
Although the movements
are separate, with
full-stop endings, the
music is connected by a
common scale-form,
derived from the name
MARY CASSATT, and by a
recurring theme that
introduces all three
movements. I see this
theme as Mary's Theme, a
personality that stays
intact while undergoing
gradual change. I
The Bacchante (1876)
[Pennsylvania Academy of
Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania] The
painting shows a young
girl of Italian or
Spanish origin, playing a
small pair of cymbals.
Since Cassatt was trying
very hard to fit in at
the French Academy at the
time, she painted a lot
of these subjects, which
were considered typical
and universal. The style
of the painting doesn't
yet show Cassatt's
originality, except
perhaps for certain
details in the face.
Accordingly the music for
this movement is
Spanish/Italian, in a
similar period-style but
using the musical
signature described
above. The music begins
with Mary's Theme,
ruminative and slow, then
abruptly changes to an
alla Spagnola-type fast
3/4 - 6/8 meter. It
evokes the
Spanish-influenced music
of Ravel and Falla.
Midway through,
there's an accompanied
recitative for the viola,
which figures large in
this particular movement,
then back to a truncated
recapitulation of the
fast music. The overall
feeling is of a
well-made, rather
conventional movement in
a contemporary
Spanish/Italian style.
Cassatt's painting, too,
is rather conventional.
II At the Opera
(1880) [Museum of Fine
Arts, Boston,
Massachusetts]
This painting is one of
Cassatt's most well known
works, and it hangs in
the Museum of Fine Arts
in Boston. The painting
shows a woman alone in a
box at the opera house,
completely dressed
(including gloves) and
looking through opera
glasses at someone or
something that is NOT on
the stage. Across the
auditorium from her, but
exactly at eye level, is
a gentleman with opera
glasses intently watching
her - though it is not
him that she's looking
at. It's an intriguing
picture. This
movement is far less
conventional than the
first movement, as the
painting is far less
conventional. The music
begins with a rapid,
Shostakovich-type
mini-overture lasting
less than a minute, based
on Mary's Theme. My
conjecture is that the
woman in the painting has
arrived late to the
opera, busily stumbling
into her box. What
happens next is a kind of
collage, a kind of
surrealistic overlaying
of two different
elements: the foreground
music, at first is a
direct quotation of
Soldier's Chorus from
Gounod's FAUST (an opera
Cassatt would certainly
have heard in the
brand-new Paris Opera
House at that time),
played by Violin II,
Viola, and Cello. This
music is played sul
ponticello in the melody
and col legno in the
marching accompaniment.
On top of this, the first
violin hovers at first on
a high harmonic, then
descends into a slow
melody, completely
separate from the Gounod.
It's as if the woman in
the painting is hearing
the opera onstage but is
not really interested in
it. Then the cello joins
the first violin in a
kind of love-duet (just
the two of them, at
first). This music isn't
at all Gounod-derived;
it's entirely from the
same scale patterns as
the first movement and
derives from Mary's Theme
and its scale. The music
stays in a kind of
dichotomy feeling,
usually
three-against-one, until
the end of the movement,
when another Gounod
melody, Valentin's aria
Avant de quitter ce lieux
reappears in a kind of
coda for all four
players. It ends
atmospherically and
emotionally disconnected,
however. The overall
feeling is a kind of
schizophrenic,
opera-inspired dream.
III Young Woman in
Green, Outdoors in the
Sun (1909) [Worcester Art
Museum, Massachusetts]
The painting, one
of Cassatt's last, is
very simple: just a
figure, looking sideways
out of the picture. The
colors are pastel and yet
bold - and the woman is
likewise very
self-assured and not in
the least demure. It is
eight minutes long, and
is all about melody -
three melodies, to be
exact (Young Woman,
Green, and Sunlight). No
angst, no choppy rhythms,
just ever-unfolding
melody and lush
harmonies. I quote one
other French composer
here, too: Debussy's song
Green, from Ariettes
Oubliees. 1909 would have
been Debussy's heyday in
Paris, and it makes
perfect sense musically
as well as visually to do
this. Mary Cassatt
lived her last several
years in near-total
blindness, and as she
lost visual acuity, her
work became less sharply
defined - something akin
to late water lilies of
Monet, who suffered
similar vision loss. My
idea of making this
movement entirely melodic
was compounded by having
each of the three
melodies appear twice,
once in a pure form, and
the second time in a more
diffuse setting. This
makes an interesting two
ways form:
A-B-C-A1-B1-C1.
String Quartet No.3
(Cassatt) is dedicated,
with great affection and
respect, to the Cassatt
String Quartet, whose
members have dedicated
themselves in large
measure to the furthering
of the contemporary
repertoire for
quartet.