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.
The Four Quarters Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] Faber Music Limited
Composed by Thomas Ades (1971-). Masterworks; Quartet; Solo Small Ensembles; Str...(+)
Composed by Thomas Ades
(1971-). Masterworks;
Quartet; Solo Small
Ensembles; String
Quartet. Faber Edition.
20th Century; Masterwork.
Score. Faber Music
#12-0571540112. Published
by Faber Music
(AP.12-0571540112).
Composed by Emilie Mayer.
Edited by Heinz-Mathias
Neuwirth. Score and
parts. Furore Verlag #FUE
10057. Published by
Furore Verlag
(FV.FUE-10057).
ISBN
979-0-50182-057-3.
String Quartet B flat
major The first
movement (Allegro, 4/4
time) is distinguished by
a clear recurring
structure characterized
by a differentiation in
compositional technique
and tonal detail. The
energetic / lyrical
contrast manifests itself
in a sequence of
contrasting episodes -
both within and outside
the themes. In its
technical development the
first movement is
modelled on the first
movement of Beethoven's
String Quartet op. 18/1.
Besides thematic,
harmonic and figural
echoes and similarities
such as the time
signature and the use of
characteristic
accentuation, the
reduction of the
movement's motifs to one
central theme is of
particular
note.
Into the New Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle - Intermédiaire Latham Music Enterprises
String Quartet - Grade 4 SKU: AP.36-54703001 Composed by Mark Revell. Arr...(+)
String Quartet - Grade 4
SKU:
AP.36-54703001
Composed by Mark Revell.
Arranged by Lynne Latham.
Performance Music
Ensemble; String Quartet.
Ludwig Masters. Score and
Part(s). Latham Music
Enterprises #36-54703001.
Published by Latham Music
Enterprises
(AP.36-54703001).
UPC:
660355021664.
English.
Used in
the LG Signature
commercial and nominated
for best original music
in a commercial (Clio),
this quartet is sure to
please players and
audiences with its
industrious perpetual
motion beginning and
soaring violin 1
descant.
Composed by Thomas Ades (1971-). Arranged by Jim Clements. Single Titles. Fabe...(+)
Composed by Thomas Ades
(1971-). Arranged by Jim
Clements. Single Titles.
Faber
Edition: Choral Signature
Series. Secular. Choral
Octavo. Faber Music #12-
0571540937. Published by
Faber
Music
String Quartet SKU: BT.EMBZ14386 Composed by Balázs Horváth. EMB Co...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
BT.EMBZ14386
Composed
by Balázs Horváth.
EMB Contemporary Music.
Contemporary Music. Book
Only. Composed 2014. 40
pages. Editio Musica
Budapest #EMBZ14386.
Published by Editio
Musica Budapest
(BT.EMBZ14386).
''The four
parts of the piece
originate from the piano
cycles of Johannes
Brahms. The identical
nature of the themes is
implied in their
descending direction,
while their differences
lie in their distinct
meters, key signatures
and tempo. I further
developed the differences
through the use of
different musical
alterations (of melody,
rhythm and timbre) while
the melodic contours are
always constant.
Depending on the
listener's attention, the
melody lines written
above one another will be
audible separately or
appear to be in unison.''
(Balázs
Horváth)
''Der
Stoff der vier Stimmen
des Stückes stammt aus
den Klavierzyklen von
Johannes Brahms. Die
Ãœbereinstimmung liegt
in ihrer abwärts
tendierenden Richtung,
ihr Unterschied hingegen
in abweichender Metrik,
Tonart und Tempi. Die
Unterschiede habe ich mit
Hilfe unterschiedlicher
musikalischer
(melodischer,
rhythmischer und tonaler)
Veränderungen
weitergewoben, während
die Struktur der Melodien
immer konstant bleibt.
Die übereinander
gelegten Melodienbögen
erklingen abhängig von
der Aufmerksamkeit des
Hörers teils jede
für sich, teils eine
Einheit bildend.''
(Balázs
Horváth).
Piano Quintet [Set de Parties séparées] Faber Music Limited
SKU: AP.12-0571572006 Composed by Thomas Ades. 5 or More; Masterworks; So...(+)
SKU:
AP.12-0571572006
Composed by Thomas Ades.
5 or More; Masterworks;
Solo Small Ensembles;
String Quintet (Piano
Quintet). Faber Edition.
20th Century; Masterwork.
Part(s). Faber Music
#12-0571572006. Published
by Faber Music
(AP.12-0571572006).
ISBN 9780571572007.
English.
Thomas
Adès's Piano Quintet
(2000) is a vivid
reimagining of sonata
form (complete with
exposition repeat).
Whilst its themes are
recognizably tonal, these
simple building blocks
are the starting points
for rich and intricate
processes of
transformation. The long
exposition is full of
subtle metrical
juxtapositions, with the
piano and string quartet
often playing in
different time signatures
simultaneously, creating
a disorienting sense that
the music is continually
shifting in and out of
temporal focus. After the
extremes of the central
development section, the
recapitulation is a
gigantic accelerando
which speeds up to four
times the original speed,
and generates enormous,
seemingly unstoppable
momentum. The effect is
of a dramatic and
temporal compression: it
is as if the whole work
were squeezed into this
musical black hole. This
product is the set of
instrumental parts.
Piece, Op. 39 Violoncelle, Piano [Conducteur et Parties séparées] Faber Music Limited
By Ernest Chausson (1855-1899). For Cello and Piano. Masterworks; Part(s); Score...(+)
By Ernest Chausson
(1855-1899). For Cello
and Piano. Masterworks;
Part(s); Score; Solo;
String - Cello and Piano.
Faber Edition.
Impressionistic;
Masterwork; Romantic. 12
pages. Published by Faber
Music