String Quartet No. 2 (Piston)
Encyclopedia
String Quartet No. 2 by Walter Piston
is a chamber-music
work composed in 1935
.
(Pollack 1982, 42–43).
:
The restlessly chromatic Lento introduction to the first movement is built on a three-note motive, A-C-D that is found also in a number of the composer’s other works (Pollack 1982, 43). The boistrous main Allegro portion of the movement is in A minor and sonata-allegro form
. The slow movement is based on the motive from the Lento introduction of the first, and is in a chromatically inflected C major (DeVoto 1988). The finale is in changing meters, with a dissonant-contrapuntal first theme, and a pandiatonic
second one that wavers between G major and E major. These tonalities contrast sharply with the equally wavering A minor and C major tonalities of the movement as a whole, which remain undecided until an A minor cadence at the end of the coda, followed immediately by a surprising Picardy third
A-major triad (Pollack 1982, 43).
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 1935
1935 in music
-Events:*February 26 - Georges Bizet's Symphony in C is performed for the first time, under Felix Weingartner, in Basel, Switzerland*April 8 - Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 5 is premiered in Washington, D.C....
.
History
Piston’s Second Quartet was composed two years after his First Quartet, and like it was premiered by the Chardon Quartet, on March 16, 1935. It was written, together with the Piano Trio, while Piston was on a Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowship
Guggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
(Pollack 1982, 42–43).
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...
:
- Lento (9/8)—Allegro (6/8)
- Adagio molto e con espressione (12/8)
- Allegro giusto (2/4)
The restlessly chromatic Lento introduction to the first movement is built on a three-note motive, A-C-D that is found also in a number of the composer’s other works (Pollack 1982, 43). The boistrous main Allegro portion of the movement is in A minor and 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...
. The slow movement is based on the motive from the Lento introduction of the first, and is in a chromatically inflected C major (DeVoto 1988). The finale is in changing meters, with a dissonant-contrapuntal first theme, and a pandiatonic
Pandiatonic
In music, pandiatonicism refers to the technique of using the diatonic scale without the limitations of functional tonality. Pandiatonic music typically uses the notes of the diatonic scale freely in dissonant combinations without conventional resolutions and/or without standard chord...
second one that wavers between G major and E major. These tonalities contrast sharply with the equally wavering A minor and C major tonalities of the movement as a whole, which remain undecided until an A minor cadence at the end of the coda, followed immediately by a surprising Picardy third
Picardy third
A Picardy third is a harmonic device used in European classical music.It refers to the use of a major chord of the tonic at the end of a musical section which is either modal or in a minor key...
A-major triad (Pollack 1982, 43).
Discography
- 1950. Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 2; Ernest Bloch: String Quartet No. 2. University of Oregon String Quartet. Recorded in concert, Nov. 6, 1950. 2 LP set. Portland, Oregon: Electronic Sound & Recording Co.
- 1979. Walter Piston: String Quartet No. 2; Roger Sessions: String Quartet No. 1, E minor. Budapest String Quartet. Recorded Anthology of American Music. New World Records NW 302. New York: New World Records.
- 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.