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.
Composed by
Rhian Samuel. String
music. Score and Parts.
Score and parts. Stainer
& Bell Ltd. #Y262.
Published by Stainer &
Bell Ltd. (ST.Y262).
ISBN
9790220222665.
Writ
ten in 2009 for an event
to celebrate the
Bicentenary of the birth
of Charles Darwin,
The Last Dance is a
musical reflection on
contemporary questions
about the survival of our
planet. It begins with
energetic, even frenetic,
material exchanged
between the instruments.
This is interspersed with
moments of respose that
are gradually extended,
until the piece concludes
with a quiet final
section with solo first
violin playing high above
the other instruments, an
ending open to many
different
interpretations.
Wash Rag for String Quartet Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle - Intermédiaire LudwigMasters Publications
String Quartet - Grade 3 SKU: AP.36-52703617 Composed by Alan Shulman. Th...(+)
String Quartet - Grade 3
SKU:
AP.36-52703617
Composed by Alan Shulman.
This edition: Latham
Music. Quartet; Solo
Small Ensembles; String -
Quartet. LudwigMasters -
Latham Music. Book.
LudwigMasters
Publications
#36-52703617. Published
by LudwigMasters
Publications
(AP.36-52703617).
UPC:
735816385521.
English.
This
humorous little vignette
for string quartet was
composed in 1979 and was
originally intended to be
published by Piedmont
Music, the ASCAP division
of EB Marks Classical.
For reasons unknown,
however, it remained in
manuscript form until
2021, when a copy of the
composer's autograph
parts was discovered in
the archives of a
completely different Alan
Shulman piece. This newly
engraved Latham Music
edition therefore
represents the first
publication of Shulman's
delightful work, as well
as the first full score.
As the title suggests,
this is a medium-slow
rag, or cakewalk in a
loose AABA form. The
bluesy and graceful main
melody is introduced by
the first violin in a
call and response
exchange with the rest of
the ensemble. The
restatement of the
primary theme is led by
the second violin, with
the entire ensemble
playing pizzicato, having
the effect of playful
mockery. In the B
section, the first violin
earnestly reasserts the
stately grace from the
opening however, the
cello is clearly becoming
restless and decides to
take over the lead just
before the final reprise.
The lighthearted ending
again has the first
violin doing its best to
bring the tune to a
refined conclusion, but
the rest of the group
still has mischief in
mind. After a couple
moments of seeming
confusion, the ensemble
regroups at last and
plays the final riff with
resolute emphasis. If
you're looking to add a
light moment to a recital
program, or looking for a
short, medium level
contest piece that
players and audiences
alike will enjoy, this
little miniature is an
ideal choice!
These products
are currently being
prepared by a new
publisher. While many
items are ready and will
ship on time, some others
may see delays of several
months.
What Child Is This? Quatuor à cordes: 2 violons, alto, violoncelle - Intermédiaire David E. Smith Publications
String quartet - Grade 3 SKU: DS.169424 Composed by Willaim C. Dix. Arran...(+)
String quartet - Grade 3
SKU: DS.169424
Composed by Willaim C.
Dix. Arranged by Dana F.
Everson. Christmas. Sheet
Music. Sacred
instrumental music. Score
and parts. David E. Smith
#169424. Published by
David E. Smith
(DS.169424).
A
string quartet with
optional third violin for
viola. After a brief
introduction the theme is
presented in a straight
forward ensemble
harmonization with some
altered pitches. The next
section places the melody
in the viola line with
opposing lines in the
violins. The ensuing
section now gives the
tune to the second violin
with contrapuntal action
in the other voices. A
chorus section is now
more articulated and
active until the tune is
handed to the first
violin with ever more
moving counterpoint in
the other voices. The
piece then ends in a
strong
statement.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14030978 Parts. Composed by Wilhelm Hansen....(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14030978
Parts. Composed by
Wilhelm Hansen. Music
Sales America. Classical.
Set of Parts. Edition
Wilhelm Hansen #KP00248.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14030978).
ISBN
9788759877142. UPC:
888680792640.
9.75x14.5x0.141
inches.
Score
available: KP30120 The
composer writes: The slow
choral-like music which
initiates Adieu was the
result of an image or
almost a dream that I
had. Without being able
to explain why, I
imagined a procession of
people, maybe medieval
munks, wearing large gray
mantles with
Ku-Klux-Klan-like white
cowls on their heads,
something like a funeral
procession. The title
Adieu is partly a comment
on this funeral
procession, but also used
because the piece is
split up by three
slow-ascending glissandi,
a kind of farewell
glissandi which removes
the intervening music.
The first absorbing
glissando is soft and
removes both the slow
funeral choral and the
agitating figures in the
first half of the piece.
The second glissando is
given only to the cello
and crawls out from the
elegiac melodies in the
middle part. The third
and final glissando is
intense and agitating,
and prepares the way for
the end of the piece.
This end primarily deals
with the relationship
fast - slow. This
relationship is turned
topsy turvy: the music
gets faster and faster
until it is so fast that
it suddenly becomes slow,
so slow in fact that it
is very quickly able to
become extremely fast
again.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14030979 Score. Composed by Bent Sorensen. ...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14030979
Score. Composed by
Bent Sorensen. Music
Sales America. 20th
Century. Edition Wilhelm
Hansen #KP30120.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14030979).
Parts
available: KP00248 The
composer writes: The slow
choral-like music which
initiates Adieu was the
result of an image or
almost a dream that I
had. Without being able
to explain why, I
imagined a procession of
people, maybe medieval
munks, wearing large gray
mantles with
Ku-Klux-Klan-like white
cowls on their heads,
something like a funeral
procession. The title
Adieu is partly a comment
on this funeral
procession, but also used
because the piece is
split up by three
slow-ascending glissandi,
a kind of farewell
glissandi which removes
the intervening music.
The first absorbing
glissando is soft and
removes both the slow
funeral choral and the
agitating figures in the
first half of the piece.
The second glissando is
given only to the cello
and crawls out from the
elegiac melodies in the
middle part. The third
and final glissando is
intense and agitating,
and prepares the way for
the end of the piece.
This end primarily deals
with the relationship
fast - slow. This
relationship is turned
topsy turvy: the music
gets faster and faster
until it is so fast that
it suddenly becomes slow,
so slow in fact that it
is very quickly able to
become extremely fast
again.
String Quartet - Grade 4 SKU: HL.14001159 Composed by Bent Sorensen. Musi...(+)
String Quartet - Grade 4
SKU: HL.14001159
Composed by Bent
Sorensen. Music Sales
America. Classical.
Studyscore. Composed
2005. 28 pages. Edition
Wilhelm Hansen #WH30120B.
Published by Edition
Wilhelm Hansen
(HL.14001159).
ISBN
9788759805527. UPC:
888680792657.
8.25x11.75x0.106
inches.
Study score
to Bent Sorensen's Adieu
for String Quartet. The
slow choral-like music
which initiates Adieu was
the result of an image or
almost a dream that I
had. Without being able
to explain why, I
imagined a procession of
people, maybe medieval
monks, wearing large gray
mantles with
Ku-Klux-Klan-like white
cowls on their heads,
something like a funeral
procession. The title
Adieu is partly a comment
on this funeral
procession, but also used
because the piece is
split up by three
slow-ascending glissandi,
a kind of farewell
glissandi which removes
the intervening music.
The first absorbing
glissando is soft and
removes both the slow
funeral choral and the
agitating figures in the
first half of the piece.
The second glissando is
given only to the cello
and crawls out from the
elegiac melodies in the
middle part. The third
and final glissando is
intense and agitating,
and prepares the way for
the end of the piece.
This end primarily deals
with the relationship
fast - slow. This
relationship is turned
topsy turvy: the music
gets faster and faster
until it is so fast that
it suddenly becomes slow,
so slow in fact that it
is very quickly able to
become extremely fast
again. Bent Sorensen.
String Quartet SKU: HL.14031851 Composed by Vagn Holmboe. Music Sales Ame...(+)
String Quartet
SKU:
HL.14031851
Composed
by Vagn Holmboe. Music
Sales America. Classical.
Book [Softcover]. 24
pages. Music Sales
#KP00797. Published by
Music Sales
(HL.14031851).
ISBN
9788759880661.
Danish.
Holmboe'
s last quartet work,
which is
unofficially also
String Quartet No.
21, was the last
work he ever composed,
and was unfinished on his
death in 1996. His pupil
Per
Nørgård
has finished the quartet,
and himself characterizes
his contribution by
saying that the score
existed “in an only
partly completed form,
which could however be
written out with only a
few cases of
doubt”. With only
two movements and a
playing time of
about nine minutes it is
at its existing
length the shortest of
Holmboe's string
quartets. The first
movement takes the form
of one long arch in a
rocking triple time which
constantly shiftsamong
different tempo and pulse
sensations. At the same
time the rhythmic
energy increases
until the movement, in a
faster Con moto
tempo accelerates to
a more flowing 12/8 time,
coloured both
rhythmically by
cross-rhythms in
duple time and timbrally
by harmonics in the
viola. In its middle
section, Con fuoco,
the movement
culminates in both tempo
and expression until it
falls calm in brief
recapitulations in
reverse order of the
first two sections. The
rocking feeling continues
in the second movement,
but now at a more
extroverted level from
the outset, Allegro
and pizzicato. The
energy builds up
further as the mood
intensifies to Con
fuoco, while all
instruments go over to
bowed playing, but like
the first movement, this
movement ends Adagio
here however not as
a gradual attenuation but
through a sudden shift in
tempo to a calm,
imitative passage before
the movement slowly thins
out to the almost
inaudible through a last,
dense, open sounding
chord with a brief violin
solo above it.
The
quartet is dedicated to
Holmboe's wife MeLa May
Holmboe, and was given
its first performance by
the Kontra Quartet on
22nd March 1997 at the
Carl Nielsen Academy of
Music in Odense,
Denmark.
Holmboe's last quartet
work, which is
unofficially also
String Quartet No. 21,
was the last work he ever
composed, and was
unfinished on his death
in 1996. His pupil
Per
Nørgård
has finished the quartet,
and himself characterizes
his contribution by
saying that the score
existed “in an only
partly completed form,
which could however be
written out with only a
few cases of
doubt”. With only
two movements and a
playing time of
about nine minutes it is
at its existing
length the shortest of
Holmboe's
stringquartets. The
first movement takes the
form of one long arch in
a rocking triple time
which constantly shifts
among different tempo and
pulse sensations. At the
same time the rhythmic
energy increases
until the movement, in a
faster Con moto
tempo accelerates to
a more flowing 12/8 time,
coloured both
rhythmically by
cross-rhythms in
duple time and timbrally
by harmonics in the
viola. In its middle
section, Con fuoco,
the movement
culminates in both tempo
and expression until it
falls calm in brief
recapitulations in
reverse order of the
first two sections. The
rocking feeling continues
in the second movement,
but now at a more
extroverted level from
the outset, Allegro
and pizzicato. The
energy builds up
further as the mood
intensifies to Con
fuoco, while all
instruments go over to
bowed playing, but like
the first movement, this
movement ends Adagio
here however not as
a gradual attenuation but
through a sudden shift in
tempo to a calm,
imitative passage before
the movement slowly thins
out to the almost
inaudible through a last,
dense, open sounding
chord with a brief violin
solo above it.
The
quartet is dedicated to
Holmboe's wife MeLa May
Holmboe, and was given
its first performance by
the Kontra Quartet on
22nd March 1997 at the
Carl Nielsen Academy
of.