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Tag: quintets
“Driveway“ (1872 – 1873)
Vincent van Gogh
________
if a quartet is a piece of music for four instruments,
if a quartet is also a piece of music consisting of
more than one segment of music, movements –
two definitions just to confuse things – a quintet is,
in the same manner, a piece of music written for
five instruments, as well as a piece of music
consisting of more than one segment of music,
as a trio is for three, a sextet, yes, a sextet, is
for six, and so forth
any of these groupings can nevertheless do
nocturnes, tangos, ballades, pieces of music
consisting of only one segment, movements
here is perhaps the most influential quintet of
all time, Schubert’s D956, you will have heard
it, at least some of it, somewhere, probably, as
part of the cultural heritage of the West, should
your heritage be of the West, hearing it is as if
coming upon, musically speaking, any one
of, for instance, Van Gogh’s masterpieces,
see above, we still bathe in its, their,
however subconscious, impact
R ! chard
________
allegros are ubiquitous in the repertory,
you can find them everywhere, so I won’t
say much about them but that they’re
the next step up from andante, therefore
sprightly, energized, they’ll often start,
or end, sonatas, and their derivatives,
string quartets, concertos, symphonies,
et cetera, engaging listeners, at first,
then wishing them a cheery farewell,
after an often melancholy middle spell,
they’re here again in the two following
quintets, not unexpectedly, at the
beginning of each, and at their end
l – Allegro
ll – Larghetto
lll – Menuetto
lV – Allegretto con Variazioni
allegretto is slightly slower than
allegro
larghetto, meanwhile, is slightly faster
than largo, largo is slower even than
adagio, so that larghetto is somewhere
between the two, you’ll melt, believe
me, at this one
l – Allegro vivace
ll – Andante
lll – Scherzo (Presto)
lV – Theme and Variations (Andantino)
V – Allegro giusto
thirty years have elapsed between
them, from 1789 to 1819, listen for
the Classical Period becoming the
Romantic Era
a clue, you can sing along with the
Mozart, you can’t anymore with the
Romantics
a quintet, incidentally, was usually
comprised of a string quartet,
however varied these strings, note,
might have been, with whichever
instrument would make up a fifth,
according to which the quintet was
identified, thus a clarinet quintet was
a clarinet with a string quartet, a piano
quintet, a string quartet plus a piano
other variants will follow
enjoy
R ! chard
psst: the theme in the fourth movement
variations of “The Trout“ is from a
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