String sextet
Encyclopedia
In classical music, a string sextet is a composition written for six string instruments, or a group of six musicians who perform such a composition. Most string sextets have been written for an ensemble consisting of two violin
s, two viola
s, and two cello
s.
Among the earliest works in this form are the six string sextets Op.
23 of Luigi Boccherini
, written in 1776. Other notable string sextets include the Opp. 18 and 36 of Johannes Brahms
, the Op. 48 of Antonín Dvořák
, the Souvenir de Florence
(Op. 70) of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
, Verklärte Nacht
(Op. 4) by Arnold Schoenberg
, the op. 10 of Erich Wolfgang Korngold
, Erwin Schulhoff
's String Sextet (1924) and the String Sextet (1989) of Charles Wuorinen
.
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, two viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
s, and two cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
s.
Among the earliest works in this form are the six string sextets Op.
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
23 of Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Boccherini
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
, written in 1776. Other notable string sextets include the Opp. 18 and 36 of Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
, the Op. 48 of Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, the Souvenir de Florence
Souvenir de Florence
The String Sextet in D minor "Souvenir de Florence", Op. 70, is a string sextet scored for 2 violins, 2 violas, and 2 cellos composed in the European summer of 1890 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Tchaikovsky dedicated the work to the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society in response to his becoming an...
(Op. 70) of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
, Verklärte Nacht
Verklärte Nacht
Verklärte Nacht , Op. 4, is a string sextet in one movement composed by Arnold Schoenberg in 1899 and his earliest important work...
(Op. 4) by Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, the op. 10 of Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
, Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff was a Czech composer and pianist.-Life:Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany...
's String Sextet (1924) and the String Sextet (1989) of Charles Wuorinen
Charles Wuorinen
Charles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
.
Notable string sextets
- Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
(1743-1805) String Sextets Op.23 (1776) - Hakon Børresen (1876-1954) Sextet in G Major, Op.5 (1901)
- Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
(1833-1897)- String Sextet No. 1 in B flat major, Op. 18
- String Sextet No.2 in G major, op.36
- Frank BridgeFrank BridgeFrank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
(1879-1941) String Sextet (1906-1912) - Karl Davydov (1838-1889) Sextet, op.35 (1880) dedicated to Leopold Auer
- Ignacy Feliks Dobrzynski (1807-67) Sextet in Eb major, op.39 (1845)
- Ernő DohnányiErno DohnányiErnő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....
(1877-1960) String Sextet in B flat major 26:58 - Antonin DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
(1841-1904) String Sextet in A major, Op. 48, B. 80 33:07 - Eduard FranckEduard FranckEduard Franck was born in Breslau, the capital of the Prussian province of Silesia. He was the fourth child of a wealthy and cultivated banker who exposed his children to the best and brightest that Germany had to offer. Frequenters to the Franck home included such luminaries as Heine, Humboldt,...
(1817-1893)- String Sextet No.1 in E Flat, Op.41 (1882)
- String Sextet No.2 in D Major, Op.50 (1894)
- Niels Gade (1871-1890) Sextet in E flat Major, Op.44 (1865)
- Louis GlassLouis GlassLouis Glass was a Danish composer.Glass, born in Copenhagen, was almost an exact contemporary of Carl Nielsen and like Nielsen was a student of Niels Gade. However, Glass also studied at the Brussels Conservatory where he became enamored of the music of César Franck and Anton Bruckner, both of...
(1864-1936) Sextet in G Major, Op.15 (1893) - Reinhold GliereReinhold GlièreReinhold Moritzevich Glière was a Russian and Soviet composer of German–Polish descent.- Biography :Glière was born in Kiev, Ukraine...
(1875-1956)- Sextet No.1 in C minor (1898)
- String Sextet No 2 in B minor, Op. 7 (1904)
- String Sextet No 3 in C major, Op.11 (1904)
- Heinrich HofmannHeinrich HofmannJohann Michael Ferdinand Heinrich Hofmann was a German painter of the late 19th to early 20th century. He was the uncle of the German painter Ludwig von Hofmann. He was born in Darmstadt, Germany and died in Dresden, Germany...
(1842-1902) Sextet op.25 (1874) - Joseph HolbrookeJoseph HolbrookeJoseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
(1878-1958) Sextet in D, op.43 (1924) - Vincent D'IndyVincent d'IndyVincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
(1851-1931) String Sextet in Bb major, op.92 (1927) - Hans Koessler (1853-1926) Sextet in F minor (1902)
- Erich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
(1897-1957) String Sextet in D major, Op. 10 (1917) 32:41 - Arnold KrugArnold KrugArnold Krug was born in Hamburg on October 16, 1849 and died there on August 14, 1904. He was a German composer and music teacher. Gustav Jenner was among his many students.- Musical career :...
(1849-1904) Sextet in D major, op.68 - Max LewandowskyMax Lewandowskythumb|upright|Portrait Max Heinrich LewandowskyMax Lewandowsky was a German neurologist, who was a native of Berlin. He studied medicine at the University of Marburg, Berlin and Halle, and earned his doctorate in 1904. Since 1905 he worked in Berlin-Friedrichshain hospital. His co-workers were...
(1874-1906) Sextet op.5 (1904) - Bohuslav MartinůBohuslav MartinuBohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
(1890-1959) String Sextet, H. 224 Paris, 1932 15:36 - Mihaly MosonyiMihály MosonyiMihály Mosonyi was a Hungarian composer. Born Michael Brand, he changed his name to Mosonyi in honor of the district of Moson , with Mihály being the Hungarian equivalent of "Michael"...
(1815-1870) String Sextet in C minor 31:54 - Per August Ölander (1824-1886) String Sextet (1876)
- Walter PistonWalter PistonWalter 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....
(1894-1976) String Sextet (1964) 18:10 - Joachim RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
(1822-1882) Sextet in g minor, Op.178 (1872) - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
(1873-1916) Sextet in F Major, Op.118 (1910) - Friedhelm Rentzsch (1955 - ) String Sextet (1981) 15:00
- Nikolay Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908) String Sextet in A major 29:45
- Anton Rubenstein (1829-1894) Sextet in D major, op.97
- Peter SchickelePeter SchickeleJohann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
String Sextet (1990) 26:00 - Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
(1874-1951) Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Op. 4 (1899) 27:12 - Erwin SchulhoffErwin SchulhoffErwin Schulhoff was a Czech composer and pianist.-Life:Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany...
(1894-1942) String Sextet (1924) 20:30 - Louis SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
(1784-1859)- String Sextet No.1 in C minor (1898)
- String Sextet No 2 in B minor, Op. 7 (1904)
- String Sextet No 3 in C major, Op.11 (1904)
- Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
(1864-1949) from the Opera “Capriccio” Op.85 (1942) 9:26 - Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70 34:36
- Nicolai von Wilm (1834-1911) Sextet in B minor, Op.27 (1898)
- Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
String Sextet (1989) 20:00
See also
- SextetSextetA sextet is a formation containing exactly six members. It is commonly associated with vocal or musical instrument groups, but can be applied to any situation where six similar or related objects are considered a single unit....
- String trioString trioA string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. The term is generally used with reference to works of chamber music from the Classical period to the present.-History:...
- String quartetString quartetA string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
- String quintetString quintetA string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
- String octetString octetA string octet is a piece of music written for eight string instruments, or sometimes the group of eight players. It usually consists of 4 violins, 2 violas and 2 cellos, or four violins, two violas, a cello and a double bass....