Product Description
Program note:
As indicated by the title, this is my twelfth string quartet. My very first work, Aperture (1974), was a string quartet. In between I wrote four (nos. 2 5) for the Kronos Quartet, one (no. 6) for the Manhattan String Quartet, one (no. 7) for the Lydian String Quartet, one (no. 8) for the Artaria String Quartet, two (nos. 9 - 10) for the Hawthorne String Quartet, and one (no. 11) for the Formosa Quartet.
The number twelve immediately brought to mind the months of the year. But I thought a twelve-movement string quartet might be a bit excessive, and difficult to achieve in a coherent narrative arc. Most classical string quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven are in four movements. So why not the seasons, a movement for each: spring, summer, autumn, and winter.
I am a huge fan of "The Creation" by Franz Joseph Haydn. Confession: I am a huge fan of anything by maestro Haydn. For inspiration and guidance, I went to Haydns other oratorio "The Seasons." Armed with a Dover publication of the full score and a recording of the complete work by Sir Thomas Beecham on EMI Classics, I got down to work over the summer of 2010.
String Quartet No. 12 The Seasons, after Franz Joseph Haydn is in four movements, played without pause between movements.
1) Intro: Heavy snow
Spring: Crocuses blooming!!!
2) Summer: Cloudburst!
Double rainbow Trio
3) Autumn: La Caccia
Danza Rusticana Trio
4) Intro: Heavy snow again
Winter: O Magnum Mysterium
Hail storm!
The work begins with four descending chords, depicting the falling of snow. But its Spring and crocuses are seen peeping through the snow
Summer begins with cloudbursts, thunder, lightning and torrential rain. A double rainbow appears after the storm. The sun emerges from the clouds in the Trio section. It is a lovely day after all; but then the clouds return
La Caccia: men go hunting in the Autumn. Well, the men in Haydns days at least. Peasant ladies dance as they harvest in the fields. A hawk appears, soaring overhead in the Trio as the sun sets in an orange-red sky ...
In Winter snow falls again; but its the season to celebrate the Nativity. Violin and viola chant "O magnum mysterium"
O Magnum Mysterium O great mystery
Et admirabile sacramentum and wonderful sacrament
Ut animalia viderent Dominum natum that animals should see the new-born Lord
Jacentem in praesepio! lying in a manger!
Beata Virgo, cujus viscera Blessed is the Virgin whose womb
Meruerunt portare was worthy to bear
Dominum Christum. Christ the Lord.
Alleluia. Alleluia.
A hailstorm wreaks havoc.
Fine.
Audio link. Copy and paste the URL link into your browser.
https://thomasoboelee.bandcamp.com/album/string-quartet-no-12-the-seasons-2010
Video link: https://youtu.be/8seBbMtds84
This product was created by a member of ArrangeMe, Hal Leonard's global self-publishing community of independent composers, arrangers, and songwriters. ArrangeMe allows for the publication of unique arrangements of both popular titles and original compositions from a wide variety of voices and backgrounds.