1815-1894 Miscellaneous Chamber Music Flashcards
Name 7 miscellaneous chamber works ca.1815-1894.
1-2. Franz Schubert
- Piano Quintet in A, D.667 (popularly called the Trout Quintet; for piano, violin, viola cello, and double bass; 1819)
- Quintet in C for 2 violins, viola, and 2 cellos, Op.163 (1828)
3. Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op.47 (1842)
4-5. Johannes Brahms
- Piano Quartet No.1 in g, Op.25 (1859)
- String Sextet No.2 G, Op.36 (1864-1865)
6. Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887)
7. Johannes Brahms: Trio in a for piano, clarinet, and cello, Op. 114 (1891)
Piece: piano quintet by Schubert.
Franz Schubert: Piano Quintet in A, D.667 (popularly called the Trout Quintet; for piano, violin, viola cello, and double bass; 1819)
- The composer Johann Nepomuk Hummel had rearranged his own Septet for the same instrumentation, and the Trout was actually written for a group of musicians coming together to play Hummel’s work.
- The piece is known as the Trout because the fourth movement is a set of variations on Schubert’s earlier Lied “Die Forelle” (The Trout). This is a rare instance of a full quotation of the song. Other pieces which reference Schubert’s songs commonly only quote a portion of the song. For example, the slow movement to the Death and the Maiden string quartet uses only the material from the piano introduction to Schubert’s song as its primary thematic material. The rising sextuplet figure from the song’s accompaniment is used as a unifying motif throughout the quintet, and related figures appear in four out of the five movements – all but the Scherzo. As in the song, the figure is usually introduced by the piano, ascending.
- Compared to other major chamber works by Schubert, such as the last three string quartets and the string quintet, the Trout Quintet is a leisurely work, characterized by lower structural coherence, especially in its outer movements and the Andante. These movements contain unusually long repetitions of previously stated material, sometimes transposed, with little or no structural reworking, aimed at generating an overall unified dramatic design.
- The importance of the piece stems mainly from its use of an original and innovative harmonic language, rich in mediants and chromaticism, and from its timbral characteristics. The Trout Quintet has a unique sonority among chamber works for piano and strings, due mainly to the piano part, which for substantial sections of the piece concentrates on the highest register of the instrument, with both hands playing the same melodic line an octave apart. Such writing also occurs in other chamber works by Schubert, such as the piano trios, but to a much lesser extent
- The first movement (Allegro vivace) is in sonata form. As commonplace in works of the Classical genre, the exposition shifts from tonic to dominant; however, Schubert’s harmonic language is innovative, incorporating many mediants and submediants.
- The second movement (Andante) is in F major (the flattened submediant of the work’s main key, A major). This movement is composed of two symmetrical sections, the second being a transposed version of the first, except for some differences of modulation which allow the movement to end in the same key in which it began. A feature of this movement is its tonal layout: the tonality changes chromatically, in ascending half tones (F - f# - G - A-flat - a - F)
- The third movement (Scherzo. Presto) is in A major and also contains mediant tonalities (C major). Trio is in D major with hints of B-flat major.
- The fourth movement is in D major (the subdominant of the work’s main key), a theme and variations on Schubert’s Lied Die Forelle. As typical of some other variation movements by Schubert (in contrast to Beethoven’s style), the variations do not transform the original theme into new thematic material; rather, they concentrate on melodic decoration and changes of mood. In each of the first few variations the main theme is played by a different instrument or group. The fourth variation switches to D minor with hints of F major. In the fifth variation, the cello variation, Schubert begins in the flat submediant (B flat major), and creates a series of modulations eventually leading back to the movement’s main key (D major), at the beginning of the final sixth variation.
- The fifth movement (Allegro giusto) is in two symmetrical sections, like the second movement. However, the movement differs from the second movement in the absence of unusual chromaticism, and in the second section being an exact transposition of the first (except for some changes of octave register). A repeat sign is written for the first section: if one adheres meticulously to the score, the movement consists of three lengthy, almost identical repeats of the same musical material. Although this movement lacks the chromaticism of the second movement, its own harmonic design is also innovative: the first section ends in D major, the subdominant. This is contradictory to the aesthethics of the Classical musical style, in which the first major harmonic event in a musical piece or movement, is the shift from tonic to dominant (or, more rarely, to mediant or submediant – but never to the subdominant).
Piece: string quintet by Schubert.
Franz Schubert: Quintet in C for 2 violins, viola, and 2 cellos, Op.163 (1828)
- Franz Schubert’s final chamber work, completed just two months before the composer’s death.
The first public performance of the piece did not occur until 1850
- An early admirer was Brahms whose Piano Quintet (1865) was inspired in part by Schubert’s (then) newly-discovered work. Brahms, in fact, originally wrote that work as a string quintet with two cellos (the complement used by Schubert) and only later recast it as a piano quintet.
- In selecting the key of C major for his only string quintet, Schubert may have been gesturing to two composers he greatly admired, Mozart and Beethoven, both of whom wrote string quintets in that key, Mozart’s String Quintet No. 3 in C major, K. 515 and Beethoven’s String Quintet, Op. 29 in C major. According to Charles Rosen, the opening theme of Schubert’s work emulates many characteristics of the Mozart quintet’s opening theme, such as decorative turns, irregular phrase lengths, and rising staccato arpeggios (the latter appear only in Schubert’s recapitulation).
- Before Schubert, Luigi Boccherini had replaced the second viola with a second cello; however, Schubert’s use of the second cello is very different from Boccherini’s, who uses the additional cello to create an additional viola line.
- In common with other late Schubert works, the quintet opens with an extremely expansive movement: an Allegro ma non troppo that accounts for more than one third of the total length of the piece.
- 1. The first movement is notable for its unexpected harmonic turns. For instance, Schubert begins the development section with a daring modulation from the dominant to the submediant that “lift[s] the music magically” from G major to A major. One other notable harmonic turn is to the flattened mediant key of E-flat major for the cello duet second theme.
- 2. The “sublime” second movement, one of Schubert’s rare adagios, is in three-part ABA (ternary) form. The outer sections, in E major (mediant key of C major), are of an otherworldly tranquility, while the central section is intensely turbulent: it breaks suddenly into the tranquility in the distant key of F minor. When the opening music returns, there is a running 32nd-note passage in the second cello which seems to have been motivated by the turbulence that came before it. The juxtaposition of E major and F minor, exceedingly distantly related keys, establishes the importance of the “tonal relationship of lowered second degree” (or flatsupertonic) “to the tonic” which will be exploited in the third and fourth movements.
- 3. The Scherzo, in C major, is symphonic and large-scaled, with the open strings of the lower instruments exploited. The middle section (or trio) of this movement, in the remote key of D-flat major (a semitone up from C), is an unearthly slow march. The surprising juxtaposition of the tonalities of C major and D-flat major in this movement again emphasizes the relationship between the tonic and flat supertonic (the flatted second tone of the scale).
- 4. The last movement is an exuberant sonata-rondo whose form resembles that of the finale of Mozart’s C major quintet. The main theme demonstrates clear Hungarian influences. The movement is in C major, but is built upon the interplay of the major and minor modes. It incorporates many unusual technical features, including the final two notes: the flat supertonic (D-flat) and the tonic (C), played forte in all parts.
Piece: piano quartet by Schumann.
Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet in E-flat, Op.47 (1842)
- Schumann’s only piano quartet.
- The work was composed in 1842, during Schumann’s “Chamber Music Year.” Prior to that year Schumann had completed no chamber music at all with the exception of an early piano quartet (in 1829). However, during his year-long concentration on the genre he wrote three string quartets and a piano quintet (also in E-flat, Op.44) in addition to the piano quartet.
- The pianist at the premiere was Clara Schumann.
- The piece is in four movements.
- The brief but riveting Sostenuto assai that opens the Schumann’s Piano Quartet in E flat major, Op. 47, quickly gives way to the powerful and expressive Allegro ma non troppo that dominates the first movement with its recurring themes and pulsing rhythm maintained by the piano. We have a momentary return to the Sostenuto before the themes are restated and developed in a livelier Allegro section which, after a sustained moment, leads to the thrilling Più agitato that concludes the movement.
- The staccatos of the second movement Scherzo are interrupted twice by more sustained trio sections before the movement wisps into thin air. The skittering second movement resembles the “elfin scherzos” of Mendelssohn.
- Then we are taken into the heaven of the Andante cantabile with its moving lyricism for each instrument in turn. It is a deeply romantic and song-like, melodic movement, with the cello prominent. The opening cello song is unforgettable, but the violin, viola, and piano all have their moments.
- The wonderful Finale seems to combine the power of the first movement with the lyricism of the third movement and the liveliness of the Scherzo. The finale is a heavily contrapuntal movement built upon the three-note figure introduced in the coda of the preceding movement.
Piece: string sextet by Brahms. Also briefly describe the history of the string sextet genre.
String Sextet Genre
- There are earlier examples by Luigi Boccherini (two sets of six each). However, between the Boccherini and the Brahms, very few for stringed instruments without piano seem to have been written or published, whereas within the decades following Brahms’ two examples, a number of composers wrote string sextets (e.g. Dvořák, Tchaikovsky, Schoenberg).
Brahms wrote two string sextets:
- String Sextet No.1 B-flat, Op.18 (1860)
- String Sextet No.2 G major, Op.36 (1864-1865)
String Sextet No.2 G major, Op.36 (1864-1865)
- It conceals a references to both Agathe von Siebold (with whom he was infatuated at the time) and Clara Schumann. In the first movement (bars 162-168) Agathe is spelled out with the notes a-g-a-d-h-e. Brahms included a less explicit reference to Clara by including a melody in a letter to her. This theme, heard in its entirety during the slow movement, pervades the entire work; it includes a pair of ascending fourths appearing in the guise of fifths to open the first movement.
- The work is characterized by its exotic sounding opening of the first movement with a unison bariolage, by innovative chord structures and its many contrasts both technical and melodical.
- Brahms wrote the greater part of his second String Sextet during the summer of 1864, when he visited Clara Schumann and her family at Lichtenthal near Baden-Baden, himself staying in the house of Anton Rubinstein and mixing in a company of the greatest distinction. The work was completed the following May.
- If the first of the two sextets looks back to Detmold and the serenades, the second looks forward to the symphonies that Schumann had seemed to detect when Brahms first played to him.
- Allegro non troppo (3/4, G major, sonata form): It is in the key of G major, to which shifting tonalities add some ambiguity in the first movement, which has a second subject of particular beauty (in the dominant key, D major).
- Scherzo. Allegro non troppo (2/4, G minor - D major trio, ternary form): The second movement is a gentle Scherzo, derived in part from a dance movement for piano written some ten years earlier, contrasted with a Trio of almost Bohemian vigour.
- Poco adagio (common time, E minor, variations): The slow movement is a set of variations, once more using a theme of Baroque character, this time in the relative minor key, E minor. The five variations lead to a coda in E major.
- Poco allegro (9/8, G major, sonata rondo): The final movement, a form of rondo that allows the intervening repetition of an opening motto theme between the sections of a tripartite, sonata-form movement. Recurrent tremolos ensure that a skittish yet graceful air is maintained throughout. The use of tremolos may betray the influence of Schubert (e.g. Quartettsatz, 15th quartet). There is a fugato section in the development, with imitative entrances (starts with 2nd violin).
Piece: piano quartet by Brahms. Also name his other piano quartets.
Brahms wrote 3 piano quartets:
- Piano Quartet No.1 in g, Op.25 (1859)
- Piano Quartet No.2 in A, Op.26 (1862)
- Piano Quartet No.3 in c, Op.60 (1875)
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quartet No.1 in g, Op.25 (1859)
- Clara Schumann was the pianist for the first performance.
- Allegro (common time, G minor, sonata form): The quartet begins immediately with the first theme, a declamatory statement in straight quarter-notes, stated in octaves for the piano alone. This theme is the opening cell that governs the content of the rest of the musical material in the movement. There are 5 other themes in the exposition with both mediant and dominant relationships. Brahms creates the illusion of its repetition by starting the development section with the identical ten measures that begins the exposition, up to and including the strong G minor cadence. The recapitulation begins not with the first theme, but with the second theme in G major (as opposed to B-flat major in the exposition).
- Intermezzo. Allegro ma non troppo (9/8, C minor, ternary form) - Trio. Animato (9/8, A-flat) - Coda. Animato: It is in ternary form and functions like a scherzo, the more traditional second or third movement of a piano quartet. The consistently repeated eighth notes creates an effect of perpetual motion, even agitation, although the melodic themes are quite lyrical. There are many cross rhythms of 2 against 3 in the intermezzo. The intermezzo flirts between major and minor and ends in C major. The trio, in A-flat major (submediant of C minor), is quicker and less agitated than the intermezzo.
- Andante con moto (3/4, E-flat major, ternary form) - Animato (3/4, C major): The first subject is very lyrical, with the melody doubled in octaves between the cello and violin. It contains extremely long slur markings (phrase markings, as opposed to bowings) accompanied by a continuous stream of steady 8th notes in the piano. A second idea, which brings back the repeated eighth note triplets from the intermezzo (in the slower Andante tempo), and begins the transition to the second main section. The second section (C major, the submediant of E-flat) is rhythmically energetic, with march-like dotted rhythms that alternate with the Intermezzo triplets; it is exuberant in character. Like the previous movements, this movement develops a plethora of themes.
- Rondo alla zingarese. Presto (2/4, G minor, rondo): The subtitle “Rondo alla zingarese” has given it the nickname “Gypsy Rondo.” Like many of Brahms’s finales, this uses as its principle theme a very fast, rhythmic, tonal, simple idea, this one covering an irregular number of measures. The formal design resembles ABACDBCADCBA, although the movement is more nuanced than this because each section is in ABA form and cadenzas occasionally interject between sections. This movement is notable for its difficulty, rhythmic and metrical complexity, and harmonic exploration.
Piece: Brahms Clarinet Trio.
Johannes Brahms: Trio in a for piano, clarinet, and cello, Op. 114 (1891)
- Brahms composed four chamber works featuring clarinet (two clarinet sonatas, the clarinet quintet, and this work) composed in rapid succession after emerging from retirement toward the end of his life. This was due to the influence of clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld.
- Premiered by cellist Robert Hausmann, clarinettist Richard Mühlfeld, with Brahms at the piano.
- It is one of a small number of compositions for clarinet, cello and piano, and one of the very few to have entered the standard repertoire. Mozart and Beethoven also wrote clarinet trios, but they are not as popular as Brahms’.
- The clarinet in this Trio can also be substituted with a viola, though it is often said that the piece suffers a great deal, for many subtle mixtures of color are lost.
- The trio is known for its bare and simple themes.
- Each instrument is equally pushed to its both technical and lyrical limits.
- The cello spends a lot of time in tenor clef, dialoguing with the clarinet, and in the outer movements, these two instruments introduce the second subjects in canon by inversion. Contrapuntal ingenuities had long since become second nature to Brahms, and such features typify the concentration of thought which shapes so much of his later music.
- Allegro (cut time, A minor w/ending in A major, sonata form): Begins with solo cello with a wistful melody that grows out of a simple rising arpeggio and descending scale. Organic and contrapuntal development of these ingredients begins immediately and permeates the entire movement, simultaneously unifying and diversifying. Brahms infuses the conventional sonata form with a number of unconventional elements. One particularly unusual aspect of the movement is that the exposition section, which has modulated to E minor, ends with a plagal half-cadence (I-IV).
- Adagio (D major, the subdominant major of A minor): Meditative with achingly gorgeous melodies which flows continuously between the instruments.
- Andantino grazioso - Trio (A major, the parallel tonic major): It takes the form of a minuet with two trios. A more relaxed mood with the first section that features a cheerful, light-hearted Viennese waltz, reflective of Brahms’ close relationship to Johann Strauss II. Here, especially thematic invention and instrumental coloring go hand in hand. The trio section, with its yodeling melody, is a Ländler, the Austrian fold dance from which the waltz sprang.
- Allegro (A minor): It is tinged with Brahms’ favorite gypsy-style writing, with colorful minor mode harmonies and strong distinctive rhythms in distinctly eastern European mixtures of 2/4, 6/8, and 9/8. This movement contains virtuosic writing for all instruments.
Piece: piano quintet by Dvořák. Also, how many piano quintets did he write?
Dvořák wrote two piano quintets:
- Piano Quintet No. 1 in A major, Op. 5 (1872)
- Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887)
Antonín Dvořák: Piano Quintet No. 2 in A major, Op. 81 (1887)
- The quintet is acknowledged as one of the masterpieces in the form, along with those of Schubert, Schumann, Brahms and Shostakovich.
- The work was composed as the result of the composer’s attempt to revise an earlier work, Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 5. However, he decided that rather than submitting the revised work for publication, he would compose an entirely new work.
- The new quintet is a mixture of Dvořák’s personal form of expressive lyricism as well as a utilization of elements from Czech folk music. Characteristically those elements include styles and forms of song and dance, but not actual folk tunes; Dvořák created original melodies in the authentic folk style.
- The first movement opens quietly with lyrical cello theme over piano accompaniment which is followed by a series of elaborate transformations. The viola introduces the second subject which is another lyrical melody, but much busier than the cello’s stately line. Both themes are developed extensively by the first and second violins and the movement closes with a free recapitulation and an exuberant coda.
- The second movement is labeled Dumka which is a form that Dvořák famously used in his Dumky piano trio and features a melancholy theme on the piano separated by fast, happy interludes. It follows the pattern A-B-A-C-A-B-A where A, in F-sharp minor, is the slow elegiac refrain on piano with variations, B is a bright D major section on violins and C is a quick and vigorous section derived from the opening refrain. Each time the Dumka (A) section returns its texture is enriched.
- The third movement is marked as a Furiant which is a fast Bohemian folk dance. The cello and viola alternate a rhythmic pizzicato underneath the main tune of the first violin. The slower trio section of the scherzo is also derived from the furiant theme, with the piano and violin alternating between the main melodies. The fast Bohemian folk dance returns and the movement finishes aggressively, setting up for the polka in the last movement.
- The Finale is light-hearted and spirited. The second violin leads the theme into a fugue in the development section. In the coda, Dvořák writes tranquillo for a chorale-like section, which features the theme of the movement this time in augmentation and played pianissimo, before the pace quickens with an accelerando, and the quintet rushes to the finish.
Name Brahms’ string quintets. Name a few notable characteristics about one.
Johannes Brahms
String Quintet No. 1 in F, Op. 88 (1882)
String Quintet No. 2 in G, Op.111 ‘Prater’ (1890)
The two string quintets of Brahms are both scored, like the string quintets of Mozart, for two violins, two violas and cello. The choice of two violas is characteristic. The register of the instrument and the richness of texture that it can impart, whether in chamber music or in orchestral writing, was something very typical of Brahms.
String Quintet No. 2 in G, Op.111 ‘Prater’ (1890)
- Title: The first performance was given by the Rosé Quartet. At the rehearsal Max Kalbeck, noting the music’s genial atmosphere and thinking of Brahms’ love for Vienna’s main park, nudged the composer and suggested: “Brahms in the Prater?” And the composer replied: “You’ve hit it! And all the pretty girls there, eh?”
- The Prater was a large public amusement park in Vienna.
- Allegro non troppo, ma con brio (9/8, G major sonata form): Its opening is dominated by a cello solo in G major. The G major Quintet starts with a movement derived from the composer’s sketches for a fifth symphony. Here he allows the cello an orchestrally conceived first subject, competing with a challenging accompaniment from the other instruments, and again turns to Vienna for the inspiration of the second subject. There is a shift of key to B flat major in the central development, further modulation leading to the return of the original key and thematic material in recapitulation.
- Adagio (2/4, D minor): It starts with a viola solo accompanied by cello pizzicato. It allows free variations of the opening material, until the first viola leads to the return of the theme in simpler form.
- Un poco Allegretto (3/4, G minor - G major trio, ternary form): It is loosely based on a minuet and trio form, finishing with a short coda the uses the trio’s material instead of the minuet’s. It opens in a melancholy G minor, the feeling dispelled by a G major trio section, which has the brief final word, after the re-appearance of the G minor material.
- Vivace, ma non troppo presto (2/4, G major, rondo form): The quintet ends with a rondo that finds a place for much else that is thoroughly Austrian or Austro-Hungarian in mood.
Piece: Brahms piano quintet.
Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in f , Op.34 (1864)
- The outer movements are more adventurous than usual in terms of harmony and are unsettling in effect. The introduction to the finale, with its rising figure in semitones, is especially remarkable. Both piano and strings play an equally important role throughout this work.
- 1. Allegro non troppo (F minor): This movement begins with a unison theme in all instruments. It is in sonata form with the exposition concluding in the major-mode submediant (D flat), which is approached through a second subject in its enharmonic parallel minor (C sharp). The first theme’s heavy emphasis on D flat prepares and smooths out this modulation, as well as its reversal with the approach to the expositional repeat.
- 2. Andante, un poco adagio (A♭ major): This calm movement is in A-flat major, with a second theme in E major – enharmonically a major third lower, as in the first movement.
- 3. Scherzo. Allegro (C minor – C major): This movement is in ternary form (A-B-A) with A being a scherzo in C minor (with a secondary theme in C major and E flat major) and B being a trio in C major.
This movement shows the influence of Franz Schubert’s String Quintet. Like Schubert’s masterpiece, this movement is also in C minor/major, and ends in the same manner as Schubert’s finale, with strong emphasis on the flat supertonic D-flat, before the final tonic C.
- 4. Finale. Poco sostenuto – Allegro non troppo – Presto, non troppo (F minor): An introduction begins this movement, which is harmonically reminiscent of Beethoven’s late string quartets. After a cadence on the dominant C, the cello introduces the first theme of the sonata-allegro, which owes its simplicity to Brahms’s interest in Hungarian folk music. A vociferous, stormy bridge connects the first theme to the second theme, which is in the minor-mode dominant key (C). The expositional closing theme, a jerky version of the first theme, leads into the recapitulation, which involves a developmental episode that emphasizes the parallel major. The end of the recapitulation leads into a grave, quiet section in the initial tempo of the introduction, but it is arguably a simple reworking of the expositional closing theme (albeit in F minor). This short section modulates to C sharp minor, which, if it pertains to D flat major of the first movement (as it is the parallel minor), may symbolize the musical odyssey of the entire piece. The tempo is presto for this greatly extended coda, which develops a new theme as well as the second theme of the sonata-allegro section, and ultimately culminates in an unrelenting outburst of fiery passion, providing an intense conclusion for the entire piece.
Name 3 French composers of piano quintets ca.1815-1894. Describe 1 work.
- Camille Saint-Saëns: Piano Quintet in a, Op.14 (1855)
- Édouard Lalo: Piano quintet in A-flat major (“Fantaisie-quintette” in 2 movements, 1862)
- César Franck: Piano Quintet in f (1879)
- It has 3 movements, and the music has a cyclical character whereby a motto theme of two four-bar phrases, used 18 times in the first movement, recurs at strategic point later in the work.
- It has been described as one of Franck’s chief achievements alongside his other late works such as Symphony in D minor, the Symphonic Variations and the Violin Sonata.
Piece: Schumann piano quintet.
Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E-flat, Op.44 (1842)
- Schumann composed his piano quintet in the course of his so-called “Chamber Music Year.” Prior to 1842, Schumann had completed no chamber music at all with the exception of an early piano quartet (in 1829). However, during his year-long concentration on chamber music he composed three string quartets, followed by the piano quintet, a piano quartet, and the Phantasiestücke for piano trio.
- By pairing the piano with string quartet, Schumann “virtually invented” a new genre.
- By 1842, the string quartet had come to be regarded as the most significant and prestigious chamber music ensemble, while advances in the design of the piano had increased its power and dynamic range. Bringing the piano and string quartet together, Schumann’s Piano Quintet takes full advantage of the expressive possibilities of these forces in combination, alternating conversational passages between the five instruments with concertante passages in which the combined forces of the strings are massed against the piano. At a time when chamber music was moving out of the salon and into public concert halls, Schumann reimagines the piano quintet as a musical genre “suspended between private and public spheres” alternating between “quasi-symphonic and more properly chamber-like elements.”
- The piece is in four movements, in the standard quick-slow-scherzo-quick pattern:
1. Allegro brillante: The energetic main theme is characterized by wide, upward-leaping intervals. The contrasting second theme, marked dolce, is “meltingly romantic.”
2. In modo d’una marcia. Un poco largamente: The main theme of this movement is a funeral march in C minor. It alternates with two contrasting episodes, one a lyrical theme carried by the first violin and cello, the second a more agitated theme carried by the piano with string accompaniment. The transition between the funeral march and the second (agitated) episode reuses the descending octaves in the piano (doubled by violin) from the second ending of the first movement exposition (see figure). This is one of several moments in the quintet where Schumann creates unity across movements by subtly reusing thematic material.
3. Scherzo. Molto vivace: A lively movement built almost entirely on ascending and descending scales. There are two trios. The first trio is a lyrical canon for violin and viola. The second trio is a heavily accented perpetual motion.
4. Allegro ma non troppo: The finale begins in G minor, on a C minor chord, rather than in the tonic.
At the end of the piece, the last movement’s main theme is combined with the first movement’s main theme in a double fugue.
Describe the function of a 19th century instrumental intermezzo.
In the 19th century, the intermezzo acquired another meaning: an instrumental piece which was either a movement between two others in a larger work, or a character piece which could stand on its own. These intermezzi show a wide variation in the style and function: in Mendelssohn’s incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream the intermezzo serves as musical connecting material for action in Shakespeare’s play; in chamber music by Mendelssohn and Brahms, the intermezzi are names for interior movements which would otherwise be called scherzi; and the piano intermezzi by Brahms, some of his last compositions, are sets of independent character pieces not intended to connect anything else together. Stylistically, intermezzi of the 19th century are usually lyrical and melodic, especially compared to the movements on either side, when they occur in larger works. The Brahms piano intermezzi in particular have an extremely wide emotional range, and are often considered some of the finest character pieces written in the 19th century.
What is the most famous string octet from the Romantic period?
Mendelssohn, Felix: String Octet, Op.20 (1825)
- It was conceived in orchestral terms and is an astonishing feat of virtuosity from a sixteen-year-old, innovative in instrumentation and in its treatment of the instruments.
- Considerable demands are made of the first violin.
- The entire work is notable for its extended use of counterpoint, with the finale, in particular, beginning with an eight-part fugato.
- It immediately precedes in order of composition the concert overture A Midsummer Night’s Dream, with which the Scherzo has obvious affinities.
- 4 movements
- A typical performance of the work lasts around thirty minutes, with the first movement usually comprising roughly half of this.
- Allegro moderato ma con fuoco: Much use is made of the ascending figuration of the first subject, which is fully exploited, while a secondary theme makes its appearance, at first in sixths between the fourth violin and first viola. The repeated exposition is duly followed by a central development, a chance for changes of texture, dynamic variation and changes of mood. The music mounts to a climax of largely unanimous activity before the first theme returns in recapitulation.
- Andante: The ethereally beautiful C minor slow movement has been variously analyzed. It is opened by violas and cellos, answered by the violins, as the principal melodic material unwinds, in what might seem the first subject of a modified sonata-form movement.
- Scherzo: The scherzo is believed (according to the composer’s sister Fanny) to have been inspired by a section of Goethe’s Faust entitled “Walpurgis Night’s Dream” (‘Clouds and mist pass / it grows bright above. / Air in the bushes and wind in the reeds / - and all is dispersed’). Fragments of this movement recur in the finale, as a precursor to the “cyclic” technique employed by later 19th-century composers.
- Presto: The busy figuration is continued in the final fugal Presto, its principal subject mounting through the instruments, from the initial entry of the second cello. The perpetual motion of the movement nevertheless allows the addition of other thematic elements and explicit references to the preceding Scherzo.
Name 7 composers of piano quartets ca.1815-1894.
- Schubert: 1 work for piano quartet. It has only 2 movements.
- Adagio e Rondo concertante in F, D.487 (1816)
- Mendelssohn: 3 piano quartets. Each has 4 movements and all are in minor keys.
- Piano Quartet No.1 in c, Op.1 (1822)
- Piano Quartet No.2 in f, Op.2 (1823)
- Piano Quartet No.3 in b, Op.3 (1824-5)
- Robert Schumann: Piano Quartet Op.47 (1842)
- Johannes Brahms: 3 piano quartets
- Piano Quartet No.1 in g, Op.25 (1859)
- Piano Quartet No.2 in A, Op.26 (1862)
- Piano Quartet No.3 in c, Op.60 (1875)
- Gabriel Faure: 2 piano quartets
- Piano Quartet No.1, Op.15 (1876-9)
- Piano Quartet No.2, Op.45 (1886)
- Dvořák: 2 piano quartets
- Piano Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op.23 (1875)
- Piano Quartet No. 2 in E♭ major, Op. 87 (1889)
- Richard Strauss: Piano Quartet in c (1883-4), only 3 movements
