The Reinstatement of Polyphony in Musical Construction: Fugal Finales in Haydn's Op. 20 String Quartets

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-83 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Grier
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Western Civilization ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Advanced Study

The title, borrowed from Paul Henry Lang's description of Haydn's op. 20 string quartets in Music in Western Civilization, characterizes Haydn's endeavor to create more independent partwriting in the string quartet. First, Haydn's fugal practice is noteworthy particularly for the construction of the fugal exposition and his treatment of multiple subjects, the question of what constitutes a regular countersubject, and the treatment of redundant entries. Second, the chief strategy in these movements is the invention of invertible counterpoint in three voices. Haydn writes a double fugue (with a regular countersubject), as well as a triple and quadruple fugue, in which the principal issue is the ability of each subject (including the double fugue's countersubject) to serve as any voice——top, middle or bottom——in a texture of invertible counterpoint. The expertise he attained with these works then allows him to exploit the technique in later quartets, principally in the development sections of sonata-form movements. There, he uses invertible counterpoint to establish the independence of each voice, and to create longer passages unarticulated by cadences, sections distinct from the more clearly articulated periodic expositions and recapitulations. The three fugal finales of op. 20, therefore, constitute Haydn's advanced study not so much in fugal procedure as in the practice of invertible counterpoint.

Ernest Bloch's Second String Quartet

Tempo ◽  
1959 ◽  
pp. 11-16
Author(s):  
Frederick Rimmer
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
Musical Expression ◽  
The Right

The four string quartets* of Bloch are a convenient medium for assessing both the strength and weakness of his unusual talent, revealing, as they do, an imperfect endowment of those processes of thought and feeling from which, in the right amalgam, a masterpiece of musical expression can emerge. Only the second quartet represents him at his best. It is one of the few works where inspiration and emotion are under the control of the intellect. There are weaknesses in the other quartets largely brought about by preoccupation with cyclic procedures—a notorious and dangerous expedient for a composer unable by nature to accept the traditional usages and disciplines of sonata form.

scholarly journals TREATMENT OF RECAPITULATION OF THE FIRST MOVEMENTS IN THE SONATA FORM OF BEETHOVEN’S STRING QUARTETS OP. 18

2021 ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
Danijela Zdravić-Mihailović
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Joseph Haydn ◽  
Sonata Form ◽  
New Treatment ◽  
Analysis Point

The paper focuses on the function of recapitulation in the sonata form relying on the example of the first movements of Beethoven's string quartets Op. 18 No. 1–6. With regard to the fact that recapitulation is commonly described as a restatement of the exposition with tonal alterations of the second theme and the closing section, analytical deliberations most often do not go beyond recording such alterations. However, some analysis point to the new role of the recapitulation exactly on account of the essence of the undertaken alterations, i.e. on account of the idea that the composer wants to accomplish at the level of sonata form through recapitulation. The research is conceived as a continuation of the previous studies (Zdravić Mihailović 2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2015a, 2015b). These studies focused on the genre of string quartet of Franz Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, where recapitulation was proven to be a remarkable phenomenon as its role was not merely to restate the exposition’s content with the usual tonal alterations. On the contrary, it can be a place of a new treatment of the sections of the exposition, and gives it some completely specific features.

scholarly journals Learning Sonata Form Structure on Mozart’s String Quartets

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-96
Author(s):  
Pierre Allegraud ◽  
Louis Bigo ◽  
Laurent Feisthauer ◽  
Mathieu Giraud ◽  
Richard Groult ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
String Quartets ◽  
Sonata Form

Six String Quartets, Opus 32 and Opus 33

10.31022/c042 ◽  
1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leopold Kozeluch
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
String Quartets

Kozeluch, Mozart's greatest rival in Vienna, published his only string quartets in 1790 and 1792, at a time when he was being described by the lexicographer Gerber as “the most loved among living composers.” A study of these works offers much-needed insights into this significant composer, the string quartet genre, and the fascinating decade that saw the musical shift from classicism to romanticism.

London, Wigmore Hall: Maxwell Davies's new ‘Naxos Quartets’ (and earlier works on CD)

Tempo ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (228) ◽  
pp. 68-69
Author(s):  
Paul Conway
Keyword(s):  
Chamber Music ◽  
String Quartet ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Individual Character ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Peter Maxwell Davies ◽  
Original Approach

In a project that will be completed in 2007, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies has been commissioned by the Naxos recording company to write ten string quartets. Large-scale ambitions already realized, the intimacy of chamber music offers an opportunity not only to consolidate but also to probe and quest with the precision of scaled-down forces. It is timely, then, to be reminded that, although it has not been a major preoccupation such as opera, concerto and symphony writing, the quartet form has drawn from him some significant examples evincing an original approach. A recent Metier release usefully gathers together on one disc all Max's works for string quartet prior to the Naxos series. In these persuasive recordings, the members of the Kreutzer Quartet display a keen understanding of the individual character of each piece, the circumstances of its creation and the purpose for which it was intended.

Benjamin Lees: Quo Vadis?

Tempo ◽  
1990 ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
Bret Johnson
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Music ◽  
Double Concerto ◽  
Violin Concerto ◽  
High Profile ◽  
Individual Personality ◽  
Quo Vadis ◽  
Sound Spectrum

Fifteen years ago, Nicolas Slonimsky wrote of Benjamin Lees in Tempo: ‘At a time when so many otherwise valiant composers are star-crossed and complain of malign neglect, Benjamin Lees rises “in excelsis” in the musical firmament’. And so he has continued since, with many commissions and numerous major works to his credit, matched by frequent performances in the United States. It is a time that has seen the creation of his Fourth and Fifth Symphonies, a set of Variations for Piano and Orchestra, a Concerto for Brass Choir and Orchestra, a Double Concerto for Piano, Cello and Orchestra, at least four other orchestral compositions of substantial scale, and the Third and Fourth String Quartets. All of these have contributed to his continuing high profile in the American musical scene. When one surveys Lees's entire corpus of music over the last four decades, one sees an impressive range of works, achievements and awards. Such pieces as the Violin Concerto (1958), Third Symphony (1969) and Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (1965), all commercially recorded, stand out as landmarks not only of his own music but of postwar American music generally. His style has continued to evolve in recent years and whilst his hallmark is still his adherence to form and structure, he has become more concerned with orchestral sonority and, without becoming explicitly programmatic, practises his art within an ever-widening sound spectrum and colouristic palette. He has always possessed a strongly individual personality, and the ‘Lees Sound’ is unquestionably unique, even through his exposition and development of musical ideas-and the technique of continual evolution which he favours at present-derive, at source, from his most important early musical teacher: George Antheil.

scholarly journals Optimal feedback correction in string quartet synchronization

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (93) ◽  
pp. 20131125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan M. Wing ◽  
Satoshi Endo ◽  
Adrian Bradbury ◽  
Dirk Vorberg
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
String Quartet ◽  
Music Performance ◽  
String Quartets ◽  
Relative Timing ◽  
Correction Model ◽  
First Order ◽  
Fourth Movement ◽  
Time Series Approach ◽  
Feedback Correction

Control of relative timing is critical in ensemble music performance. We hypothesize that players respond to and correct asynchronies in tone onsets that arise from fluctuations in their individual tempos. We propose a first-order linear phase correction model and demonstrate that optimal performance that minimizes asynchrony variance predicts a specific value for the correction gain. In two separate case studies, two internationally recognized string quartets repeatedly performed a short excerpt from the fourth movement of Haydn's quartet Op. 74 no. 1, with intentional, but unrehearsed, expressive variations in timing. Time series analysis of successive tone onset asynchronies was used to estimate correction gains for all pairs of players. On average, both quartets exhibited near-optimal gain. However, individual gains revealed contrasting patterns of adjustment between some pairs of players. In one quartet, the first violinist exhibited less adjustment to the others compared with their adjustment to her. In the second quartet, the levels of correction by the first violinist matched those exhibited by the others. These correction patterns may be seen as reflecting contrasting strategies of first-violin-led autocracy versus democracy. The time series approach we propose affords a sensitive method for investigating subtle contrasts in music ensemble synchronization.

David Diamond String Quartets

Tempo ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 59 (234) ◽  
pp. 65-66
Author(s):  
Bret Johnson
Keyword(s):  
String Quartet ◽  
String Quartets

DIAMOND: String Quartets (complete); Concerto for String Quartet; Night Music for Accordion and String Quartet1. Potomac String Quartet with 1Carmelo Pino (acc). 4-CD set (each disc available separately): Albany TROY 504 (Nos. 3 and 8, Concerto), 540 (Nos. 2, 9 and 10), 613 (Nos. 1, 5 and 6) and 727 (Nos. 4 and 7, Night Music).

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