String Quartet No. 1 (Piston)
Encyclopedia
String Quartet No. 1 by Walter Piston
is a chamber-music
work composed in 1933
.
singled out this quartet, praising its "acidulous opening movement, the poetic mood painting of its second, and its breezy finale", all of which "sets a superb standard of taste and of expert string writing" (Copland 1968, 132).
:
The first movement is in sonata-allegro form
in a mixed C major/minor. The harmonic language stresses chords based on perfect fourths, and features the chromatic, dissonant counterpoint characteristic of Piston’s early period (DeVoto 1988). A nightmarish quality is produced by the approach to the F-minor second, waltzlike theme through C minor (Pollack 1982, 42). The second movement is a simple ABA in E minor, with the strings muted in the brooding, chromatic outer sections, and an unmuted fugato in sharply dotted rhythms in the central part (DeVoto 1988). This movement especially features the cello (Pollack 1982, 42). The rondo finale is based throughout on a repeated-note motive of three sixteenth notes, and the first subject recalls the quartet’s opening movement by alternating C and D (DeVoto 1988). The string writing here is expert and spectacular, with some disorienting harmonic twists (Pollack 1982, 42).
Walter Piston
Walter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....
is a chamber-music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
work composed in 1933
1933 in music
-Events:*January 23 – Béla Bartók's Piano Concerto No. 2 is premiered in Frankfurt*National Association for American Composers and Conductors is founded by Henry Hadley.*Billie Holiday is "discovered" singing at Monette's club....
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History
Piston’s First Quartet was premiered on March 7, 1933 by the Chardon Quartet, to whom it is dedicated. It is a charming but by no means bland work that later became a favorite of the Juilliard Quartet (Pollack 1982, 42). Aaron CoplandAaron Copland
Aaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
singled out this quartet, praising its "acidulous opening movement, the poetic mood painting of its second, and its breezy finale", all of which "sets a superb standard of taste and of expert string writing" (Copland 1968, 132).
Analysis
The quartet is in three movementsMovement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
:
- Allegro (3/4)
- Adagio (8/8)
- Allegro vivace (2/4, 5/8)
The first movement is in sonata-allegro form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...
in a mixed C major/minor. The harmonic language stresses chords based on perfect fourths, and features the chromatic, dissonant counterpoint characteristic of Piston’s early period (DeVoto 1988). A nightmarish quality is produced by the approach to the F-minor second, waltzlike theme through C minor (Pollack 1982, 42). The second movement is a simple ABA in E minor, with the strings muted in the brooding, chromatic outer sections, and an unmuted fugato in sharply dotted rhythms in the central part (DeVoto 1988). This movement especially features the cello (Pollack 1982, 42). The rondo finale is based throughout on a repeated-note motive of three sixteenth notes, and the first subject recalls the quartet’s opening movement by alternating C and D (DeVoto 1988). The string writing here is expert and spectacular, with some disorienting harmonic twists (Pollack 1982, 42).
Discography
- 1939. Walter Piston: String Quartet no. 1; Henry Cowell: Movements for String Quartet (1928). Dorian String Quartet. 78 RPM recording, 3 sound discs. Columbia Masterworks M 388 (set) Columbia Masterworks; 69745-D 69746-D; 69747-D. [Bridgeport, Conn.?]: Columbia Masterworks.
- 1954. Gian Francesco Malipiero: Rispetti e strambotti; Walter Piston: String Quartet [no. 1]. Juilliard String Quartet. Pittsburgh International Contemporary Music Festival, 1952. LP recording. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers CB 156--CB 157. New York: American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
- 1985. Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2. Portland String Quartet. LP recording. Northeastern Records NR 216. Boston, MA: Northeastern Records. Reissued as part of Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 1; String Quartet No. 2; String Quartet No. 3. The Portland String Quartet (Stephen Kecskemethy and Ronald Lanz, violins; Julia Adams, viola; Paul Ross, cello). CD recording. Northeastern NR 9001 CD. Boston: Northeastern University, 1988.
- 1991. Walter Piston: Quartet No. 1. Quincy Porter: Quartet No. 3; Samuel Barber: String Quartet in B Minor, op. 11. The Chester String Quartet (Fritz Gearhart, Kathryn Votapek, violins; Ronald Goravic, viola; Thomas Rosenberg, cello). CD recording. Koch International Classics 3-7069-2 H1. [Westbury, N.Y.?]: Koch International Classics.
- 2010. Walter Piston: String Quartets Nos. 1, 3 and 5. Harlem Quartet. CD Recording. Naxos 8.559630
[ Hong KongHong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...] : Naxos Records.