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.
Saxophone SKU: HU.F0571540201 New Edition. Woodwind, Methods. Improve your sigh...(+)
Saxophone
SKU: HU.F0571540201
New Edition. Woodwind,
Methods. Improve your
sight-reading! Saxophone
Grades 1-5. Softcover
Book. 48 pages. Faber
Music #F0571540201.
Published by Faber Music
(HU.F0571540201).
12 x 9 x 0.2 inches.
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Meth...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New.
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Flute Method
or
Collection. Faber
Edition:
Improve Your
Sight-Reading.
Book. Faber Music #12-
0571539866. Published by
Faber Music
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Book;...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New. Book;
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Clarinet
Method
or Collection. Faber
Edition: Improve Your
Sight-
Reading. Published by
Faber
Music
Composed by Patricia Mock. Arranged by Charles McCartha. Shawnee Sacred. Gener...(+)
Composed by Patricia
Mock.
Arranged by Charles
McCartha.
Shawnee Sacred. General
Worship, Sacred,
Thanksgiving. Octavo. 8
pages. Published by
Shawnee
Press
Passcaglia Violoncelle, Piano [Conducteur et Parties séparées] Schott
Score and Parts Cello; Piano; Violin - difficult SKU: HL.49033212 For ...(+)
Score and Parts Cello;
Piano; Violin - difficult
SKU: HL.49033212
For Violin,
Violoncello and Piano
Score and Parts.
Composed by Jö and rg
Widmann. This edition:
Saddle stitching. Sheet
music. Edition Schott.
Classical. Score and
Parts. Composed
2000/2006. 46 pages.
Duration 30'. Schott
Music #ED9633. Published
by Schott Music
(HL.49033212).
ISBN
9790001135894. UPC:
073999282085.
9.0x12.0x0.132
inches.
This Piano
Trio Passacaglia is the
'junior' companion piece
to my Cello Concerto
Dunkle Saiten [Dark
Strings], or more
precisely to the
concerto's
large-dimensional
introductory section with
the indication
'Feierlich, schreitend'
[solemnly, striding].
What in the Cello
concerto then inescapably
culminates in a
catastrophe remains in
this composition
ostensibly largely
conflict-free. This is in
fact perhaps one of my
most peaceful and
conflict-free
compositions; it consists
of half an hour of almost
exclusively tonal
progressions. Here,
passacaglia (stepping
dance!) is taken
literally: the step
progressions themselves
become the subject of the
work. This also includes
pausing, not being able
to progress, feeling
one's way, stumbling and
taking compulsive steps
forward.As familiar as
the harmonic surface of
the structure appears,
for me the natural
adaptation of the musical
flow was new to a similar
degree. This is my
attempt to produce a
linear tonal band (a
horizontal) exclusively
with the aid of harmonic
- i.e. vertical -
progressions.- Jorg
Widmann.
E-Z Play Today (Easy big-note right-hand-only arrangements for piano, organ, and...(+)
E-Z Play Today (Easy
big-note right-hand-only
arrangements for piano,
organ, and electronic
keyboard). Size 9x12
inches. 152 pages.
Published by Hal Leonard.
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Meth...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New.
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Oboe Method or
Collection. Faber
Edition:
Improve Your
Sight-Reading.
Book. Faber Music #12-
0571540236. Published by
Faber Music
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Meth...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New.
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Bassoon Method
or
Collection. Faber
Edition:
Improve Your
Sight-Reading.
Book. Faber Music #12-
0571540260. Published by
Faber Music
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Book;...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New. Book;
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Clarinet
Method
or Collection. Faber
Edition: Improve Your
Sight-
Reading. Published by
Faber
Music
For voice and C instrument. Format: fakebook. With vocal melody, lyrics and chor...(+)
For voice and C
instrument. Format:
fakebook. With vocal
melody, lyrics and chord
names. Traditional pop
and vocal standards.
Series: Hal Leonard Fake
Books. 424 pages. 9x12
inches. Published by Hal
Leonard.
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.
(Piano Solos). By Edward Elzear "Zez" Confrey (1895-1971). Edited by Richard Dow...(+)
(Piano Solos). By Edward
Elzear "Zez" Confrey
(1895-1971). Edited by
Richard Dowling. For
Piano.
Artist/Personality; Book;
Piano Collection.
Ragtime. Advanced. 140
pages. Published by
Alfred Music Publishing
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Meth...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New.
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Saxophone
Method
or Collection. Faber
Edition: Improve Your
Sight-
Reading. Book. Faber
Music
#12-0571540201. Published
by
Faber Music
A Workbook for Examinations. Composed by Paul Harris. This edition: New. Meth...(+)
A Workbook for
Examinations.
Composed by Paul Harris.
This edition: New.
Method/Instruction;
Technique Musicianship;
Woodwind - Clarinet
Method
or Collection. Faber
Edition: Improve Your
Sight-
Reading. Book. Faber
Music
#12-0571539890. Published
by
Faber Music