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.
String Quartet (rec,vl,vc,pno) SKU: BR.EB-6705 Pieces in Two to Four P...(+)
String Quartet
(rec,vl,vc,pno)
SKU:
BR.EB-6705
Pieces
in Two to Four Parts.
Composed by Fritz
Scharlach. Chamber music;
stapled. Edition
Breitkopf. Music
pedagogy. Full score. 56
pages. Breitkopf and
Haertel #EB 6705.
Published by Breitkopf
and Haertel (BR.EB-6705).
ISBN 9790004169063. 9
x 12 inches.
German.
Though a
piano can always be
included, it is not an
essential requirement for
the performance of these
settings: in some of the
carols, two violins or
two flutes are quite
sufficient, especially if
voices are used as well.
The following
combinations are
particularly suitable for
domestic music-making,
whether or not voices are
included as well:one
violin and piano,two
violins and piano,two or
three violins,violins and
recorders,two concert (C)
flutes (and an alto
flute) and - as the ideal
combination for
shepherds' songs -
flutes, violins, cello
and piano.Performing
groups and music schools
have the advantage of a
wider choice of forces
and the possibility of
varying the
instrumentation within
the individual carols and
verses. Thus large and
small combinations can
alternate, strings and
flutes can play in turn,
and finally the piano can
be used by itself or to
reinforce other
instrumental
combinations, in which
case the cello can be
added, too.The pieces are
graded in increasing
order of difficulty; the
first carols are chosen
so that they can be
mastered by violinists
after as little as 4 to 6
months of learning their
instrument. The choise
and sequence of the
carols in this book, and
also their keys, were
determined, amongst other
factors, by their
suitability for the start
of violin tuition, both
in first and in third
position, so that these
carols make an especially
good supplement of
Christmas music to the
violin method of Fritz
and Gottfried Scharlach
(with its principle of
starting with the third
position). The
progressively increasing
difficulty of the carols
has resulted, for
example, in the three
Advent carols (nos.
23-25) being placed later
in the collection.The
editor hopes that these
carols will be much
played and sung, and thus
help to fill the
Christmas season with joy
and splendour.Fritz
Scharlach, Salzburg,
December 1972
Our
beautiful Christmas
carols, old and new, are
presented here in
settings, ranging from
the easy to the more
difficult, for various
combinations of voices
and instruments that may
be available in domestic
music-making or for a
Christmas concert.
String Quartet SKU: HL.49047454 Score and Parts. Composed by Julia...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.49047454
Score
and Parts. Composed
by Julian Anderson.
String Ensemble. Chamber,
Classical. Softcover. 148
pages. Duration 1380
seconds. Schott Music
#ED13989. Published by
Schott Music
(HL.49047454).
UPC:
842819101086.
9.0x12.0x0.358
inches.
My 3rd
String Quartet is in six
contrasted movements.
Certain musical figures
recur across the work,
but there are few themes
as such. The main
emphasis is on contrast
of mood, texture,
harmony, pacing and
timing. Unlike many of my
works this quartet had no
extra-musical
inspiration, and in
principle should have no
subtitle. Certain
features already present
in my music became more
prominent in this new
work: modes (limited
collections of pitches)
have always helped me to
focus musical character,
but here a sense of key
note for each mode became
much more pronounced, as
did the difference
between modes for each
section of the work. A
sort of hybrid key-system
emerged (even with
equivalents of major and
minor) which is not
normal tonality, nor does
it aim to imitate it.
Unlike tonality this
key-system includes
noises, extended
performance techniques
and intervals outside
Western tuning as
available resources. What
I hope it does is to
focus the listening
experience onto different
musical areas, to
encourage a sense of both
modulation from one area
to another and to give
the music a sense of
goal. No conscious
knowledge of this is
needed when listening:
the music should
communicate directly on
its own. Here, then, is
this collection of six
musical colours, related
and unrelated, different
yet belonging together,
variable yet in a set
order. Hence the
subtitle, chosen both for
both its sound and its
sense: 'hana no hanataba'
meaning, in Japanese,
'bouquet of flowers'. A
brief description: 1)
Moderately fast. Short
droplets of sounds gather
increasing momentum. 2)
Very fast. Canons and
bells at different
speeds. 3) Very slow -
fast - very slow - very
fast - very slow. The
main slow movement and
its main scherzo. An
emphasis on non-tempered
tunings and on inhaling
and exhaling waves of
sound. The slow sections
feature florid melodic
writing. In the exuberant
scherzo competing duos
and trios create
imaginary folk music. 4)
Extremely fast/extremely
slow. Open strings and
harmonics fuse into a
single string instrument
- like a sort of large
resonating Medieval
tromba marina. 5) Very
fast. A variation on
movement 2). Variation,
Schoenberg told Cage, is
just a sort of repetition
'with some things changed
and others not.' 6) Slow
- Very Fast - Fast -
Slow. The opening calm
harmonies and florid
melodies evoke movement
3) in different music.
The fast part features
one overt theme: a
fanfare-like call to
attention which is
subject to extensive
development. There is
much use of non-Western
tuning. At its climax the
music freezes into a
frieze - a wall of sound
standing in front of the
audience with increasing
obstinacy and certainty
as the work grinds
towards its cadence.
Harbor Music Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle [Conducteur] Theodore Presser Co.
String Quartet SKU: PR.16400222S Composed by Dan Welcher. Full score (stu...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
PR.16400222S
Composed
by Dan Welcher. Full
score (study). With
Standard notation.
Duration 11 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#164-00222S. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.16400222S).
UPC:
680160037841.
This
work follows my Quartet
No. 1 by five years. In
terms of style and
aesthetic aim, however,
it seems light years
away. Where the first
work, a 28-minute,
four-movement piece, took
aim at cosmic conflicts
and heroic resolutions,
the present work is
intended as a kind of
divertissment. Harbor
Music lasts a mere eleven
minutes, is cast in a
single movement with six
sections, and should
leave both performers and
listeners with a feeling
of good humor and
affection. The
title comes from my
experience as a guest in
the magnificent city of
Sydney, Australia. One of
its most attractive
features is its unique
system of ferry boats:
the city is laid out
around a large,
multi-channeled harbor,
with destinations more
easily approached by
water than by land.
Consequently, inhabitants
of Sydney get around on
small, people-friendly
boats that come and go
from the central docks at
Circular Quay. During a
week's visit in 1991, I
must have boarded these
boats at least a dozen
times, always bound for a
new location - the resort
town of Manley, or the
Zoo at Taronga Park, or
the shopping district at
Darling Harbour.
In casting about for a
form for my second string
quartet, a kind of loose
rondo came to mind. Each
new destination would be
approached from the same
starting-out point
(although there are
subtle variations in the
repeating theme; it's
always in a new key, and
the texture is never the
same). The result, I
hope, is a sense of
constant new information
presented with
introductory frames of a
more familiar nature.
The embarkation
theme, which begins the
piece, is a sort of
bi-tonal fanfare in which
the violins are in G
major and the viola and
cello are in B-flat
major. It is bold, eager,
and forward-looking. The
first voyage maintains
this bi-tonality,
beginning as a 9/8 due
for second violin and
viola in a kind of
rocking motion -much as a
boat produces when
reaching the deeper water
in the harbor. A sweet,
nostalgic theme emerges
over this rocking
accompaniment. This music
is developed somewhat,
then transforms quickly
into a much faster and
lighter episode, filled
with rising and falling
scales (again, in
differing keys). A
scherzando interlude in
short notes and changing
meters provides contrast,
and the episode ends with
a reprise of the scales.
The second
embarkation follows, this
time in A major/C major.
It leads quickly into a
very warm and slow theme,
in wide-leaping intervals
for the viola. This
section is interrupted
twice by solo cadenzas
for the cello, suggesting
distant boat-horns in
major thirds. The end of
the episode becomes a
transition, with
boat-horns leading into
the final appearance of
the embarkation music,
this time in trills and
tremolos instead of
sharply accented chords.
The nostalgic theme of
the first episode makes a
final appearance, serving
now as a coda. The
rocking motion continues,
in a lullaby fashion,
leaving us drowsy and
satisfied on our homeward
journey. Harbor
Music was written for the
Cavani Quartet, and is
dedicated to Richard J.
Bogomolny. Commissioned
by his employees at First
National Supermarkets as
a gift, it represents a
thank you from many of
the people (including
this composer) who have
benefitted from his
vision and generosity. An
ardent advocate of
chamber music (and a
cellist himself), Mr.
Bogomolny has for many
years been Chairman of
the Board of Chamber
Music America. -- Dan
Welcher.
Chamber Music String Quartet SKU: PR.11441345S Prelude to Contrapunctu...(+)
Chamber Music String
Quartet
SKU:
PR.11441345S
Prelude to
Contrapunctus X from the
Art of the Fugue.
Composed by Shulamit Ran.
Full score. With Standard
notation. Duration 4
minutes. Theodore Presser
Company #114-41345S.
Published by Theodore
Presser Company
(PR.11441345S).
UPC:
680160608829. 8.5 x 11
inches.
BACH-SHARDS
was commissioned by the
Brentano String Quartet
as part of their Art of
the Fugue companion-piece
project. Ran deliberately
stays within the realm of
Bach-like vocabulary,
altering syntax in ways
that add up to something
slightly different from
the anticipated sum of
the parts. The work
builds up to a climax
that makes the entry
point into Bach’s
Contrapunctus X seem
thoroughly
natural. While
composing Bach-Shards I
found myself gravitating,
intuitively and
gradually, toward a dual
goal. First, though
the tension and
dissonance inherent in
certain moments of
Bach’s own
maze-likeÂ
contrapuntal structures
could quite easily and
naturally lead one into a
pungent contemporary
terrain, I opted not to
stray outside the realm
of Bach-like materials
and harmonic
language. Instead, it
was my hope to alter
their relationships and
context in ways that add
up to a something
that’s slightly
different than the
anticipated sum of the
parts. A mildly
deconstructed Bach, if
you will. The other
important challenge I set
for myself was building
up the latter,
toccata-like portion of
Bach-Shards in a way that
would make the entry
point of the fugue which
it precedes,
Contrapunctus X, seem
thoroughly natural.Â
It was my intent to have
the first fugal entrance
feel like a huge and much
welcome release of the
energy created by my
Prelude’s
penultimate stretch, with
its bravura figurations
elaborating on an
insistent dominant pedal
point.
String Quartet
Score. Composed by
Elena Kats-Chernin.
Boosey & Hawkes
Scores/Books. Classical.
Softcover. Duration 180
seconds. Bote & Bock
#M202536582. Published by
Bote & Bock
(HL.48025395).
UPC:
196288195474.
â€
œIn 2006 Kylie Kwong who
is the ambassador for the
Fair Trade Association of
Australia and NZ asked me
to write a piece for Fair
Trade event, she asked
for something earthy and
poetic and she told me a
lot about what Fair Trade
stands for. This piece
grew out of the many
impressions of the
stories of people growing
coffee and sugar in harsh
circumstances,
transporting the produce
on difficult roads. At
the same time I wanted to
give it a sense of
optimism and hope. There
are versions of it for
Viola and Piano, Violin
and Piano, as well as
Piano solo. Version for
string quartet composed
2007.†(Elena
Kats-Chernin).
Road To Harvest Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle Bote and Bock
Set of Parts String Quartet (PARTS) SKU: HL.48025396 String Quartet Se...(+)
Set of Parts String
Quartet (PARTS)
SKU:
HL.48025396
String
Quartet Set of Parts.
Composed by Elena
Kats-Chernin. Boosey &
Hawkes Chamber Music.
Classical. Softcover.
Duration 180 seconds.
Bote & Bock #M202536599.
Published by Bote & Bock
(HL.48025396).
UPC:
196288195481.
â€
œIn 2006 Kylie Kwong who
is the ambassador for the
Fair Trade Association of
Australia and NZ asked me
to write a piece for Fair
Trade event, she asked
for something earthy and
poetic and she told me a
lot about what Fair Trade
stands for. This piece
grew out of the many
impressions of the
stories of people growing
coffee and sugar in harsh
circumstances,
transporting the produce
on difficult roads. At
the same time I wanted to
give it a sense of
optimism and hope. There
are versions of it for
Viola and Piano, Violin
and Piano, as well as
Piano solo. Version for
string quartet composed
2007.†(Elena
Kats-Chernin).
String Quartet SKU: HL.49045761 Toward the Savage. Composed by Tok...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.49045761
Toward
the Savage. Composed
by Tokuhide Niimi. String
Ensemble. Classical.
Softcover. 52 pages.
Duration 1110 seconds.
Zen-On #ZN590227.
Published by Zen-On
(HL.49045761).
ISBN
9784115902275.
8.25x11.75x0.145
inches.
Improvisati
onal energy inherent in
music that spouts The
Savage Mind, which is
mentioned by Japanese
musicologist and
anthopologist Masakuni
Kitazawa in his book
Sound as Metaphor, always
fascinates me. One of the
aims of writing this work
was to test whether a
highly refined medium
like a string quartet can
produce the energy.
'Inherent in music'
mentioned above can be
restated as 'inherent in
human being.' Beyond the
intellectual inquiring
mind, I hope this worl is
strongly connected to
'living in the present.'
Tokuhide Niimi.
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SKU: HP.9123 Book & CD-rom with parts. 44 pages. Hope Publishing Company ...(+)
SKU: HP.9123
Book
& CD-rom with parts. 44
pages. Hope Publishing
Company #9123. Published
by Hope Publishing
Company (HP.9123).
UPC: 763628191238.
Michael
Tyree.
Collection
of six Christmas tunes
This collection of string
quartets is ideal for the
Christmas season and
offers a wealth of
material for worship and
concerts. The
arrangements are of
moderate difficulty and
filled with holiday
spirit and charm.