Quartetto dell’Arte (String Quartet)

Quartetto dell’Arte is a five-movement polytonal string quartet with a secret existential programme written in 2012 by Matthew Davidson. Its total duration is approximately 25 minutes.

Background

During 2012, Davidson completed work on The Singing Lesson, and almost immediately completed several chamber works and songs, including Quartetto dell’Arte, Quatre Mélodies Québécoises, Trio Sonata for flute viola and harp, and Bergamasques for solo violin.

Analysis

Quartetto dell’Arte uses direct transcriptions of melodies from the following recordings:

  • 1. Movement One: Musique et Musiciens du Monde - Biélorussie (UNESCO); Kazakh Music Today (Topic Records Inc.)
  • 2. Movement Three: Belgique Ballades, etc. (OCORA-Radio France); Lituanie - Le pays des chansons (OCORA-Radio France)

The second movement is a pointillistic double retrograde fugue using melodies by Verdi and Puccini, and the fourth movement juxtaposes melodies by Guillaume de Machault and Stephen Foster. The fifth movement is comparatively free in form, but resembles a rondo.

Every instrument plays in a different key almost throughout. The key structure for the whole work is as follows:

  • Movement I: Violin I – C major - A minor / Violin II – A major – F# minor / Viola G♭ major - E♭minor / Violincello – E♭ major - C minor
  • Movement II: Violin I – F major / Violin II – C major / Viola A♭ major / Violincello – E major
  • Movement III: Violin I – E minor – G major / Violin II – C# minor – E major / Viola B♭ minor - D♭major / Violincello – G minor - B♭ major
  • Movement IV: Violin I – B♭ major / Violin II – G major / Viola E♭ major / Violincello – B major
  • Movement V: Violin I – A minor - C major / Violin II – F# minor - A major / Viola E♭minor - G♭ major / Violincello – C minor - E♭ major

Each movement is subtitled by a character found in Commedia dell’Arte as follows:

  • I – Sandrone
  • II – Il Dottore
  • III – Arlecchino
  • IV – Gli Innamorati
  • V – Pantalone

At measures 26-33 of the fifth movement, a melody occurs once only and is not developed. At the end of the score, the same melody appears, but it is not written for any instrument, and there are words in Italian set to it. The occurrence of the melody within the actual quartet itself would therefore suggest that it is a song with the words “suppressed.”[1]

Movements

  1. Preludio (Scherzo-I)
  2. Fuga Frammentaria
  3. Gavotta Assurda (Scherzo-II)
  4. Adagietto Amoroso
  5. FINALE: Tarantella Tumultuosa (Scherzo-III)[2]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Davidson, Matthew "Quartetto dell’Arte: A New String Quartet", pp. 1, 4-6, published by Society of Composers Newsletter, XLII: 2, March-April 2012. Retrieved on 4 September 2013.
  2. ↑ Davidson, Matthew "Entry for Quartetto dell’Arte", American Composers Alliance. Retrieved on 26 March 2013.


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