Thom Ritter GeorgeQUINTET NO. 3 For Brass Instruments, CN 290 (1977)
PROGRAM NOTES
Thom Ritter George's QUINTET NO. 3 was composed March 3-16, 1977 in Quincy, Illinois. The score was commissioned by the Upsilon Phi Chapter, Phi Mu Alpha Fraternity, Northeast Missouri (Truman) State University, Kirksville, Missouri for its University Brass Quintet. The members of the quintet (Jeffrey Piper, trumpet; Dwight Rhodes, trumpet; Edward Bostley, horn; Roger Cody, trombone; and Tom Palmatier, tuba) gave the first performance on April 28, 1977 at the university.
The opening movement, Vivace e giocoso, is in sonata-allegro form. The musical texture is quite conversational in nature, similar to that found in the classic string quartets. At the same time, it is undeniably brass music and has strong rhythmic drive.
The main theme of the expressive second movement, Adagio, is introduced by the horn. The theme itself is in the Aeolian mode with an accompaniment colored by the used of muted trumpets and trombone. The middle section of the ternary form is slightly faster and develops ideas first heard at the opening. In a sense, the middle section is a variation of the main theme. When the original theme reappears in the third section, it too is varied from its original presentation. The second movement is at the same time a ternary form and a theme with two variations. Beethoven showed in his late works that it was possible to organize music using two forms simultaneously. If suitable for the musical situation, this technique provides a strong framework for the presentation and development of the ideas.
The third movement is a set of variations on the song "Hey, Then, Up Go We." This song was taken from William Chappell's Old English Popular Music, a favorite source on which Thom Ritter George has based several of his compositions. Chappell was Victorian who was interested in the broadsides and music of the Elizabethan period, and he printed many hundreds of these songs in his collections. We are his debt for shedding light on a lively period of musical creation, particularly the music of everyday life in olden times.
The "Hey, Then, Up Go We" theme is scalar and in a playful 6/8 meter. Thom Ritter George provides ten variations, each following closely on the heels of the preceding variation. The variations are grouped according to key and tempo. While the idea of grouped variations has been used for some time, it was Schumann, and particularly Brahms, who brought this technique to its most powerful realization.
In the third movement of QUINTET NO. 3, the variations are grouped as follows:
* Fast Variations
Theme Gioviale
Meter: 6/8 Key: B-flat majorVariation I L'istesso tempo
Meter: 6/8 Key: B-flat majorVariation II Più moto
Meter: 6/8 Key: B-flat majorVariation III L'istesso più moto
Meter: 2/4 Key: G minorVariation IV L'istesso tempo
Meter: 2/4 Key: G minorVariation V L'istesso tempo
Meter: 2/4 Key: G minor
* Slow Variations
Variation VI Lento e sostenuto
Meter: 4/4 Key: E-flat majorVariation VII Musette malinconico
Meter: 6/4 Key: E-flat minor
* Moderate Tempo Variations
Variation VIII Allegretto capriccioso
Meter: 2/4 Key: B-flat majorVariation IX Andantino pastorale
Meter: 6/8 Key: B-flat minor
* Fast Variation (Summary)
Variation X Vivace e giocoso
Meter: 6/8 Key: B-flat major
Variation X, being the summary variation, has some special features. The tempo, after starting in a spirited Vivace e giocoso, later passes briefly through three additional tempo settings (Molto meno mosso e sentimentale, Adagio espressivo, and Presto con ferocità) before the music presses to its extroverted conclusion. During the course of Variation X, the "Hey, Then, Up Go We" theme of third movement is developed along with the themes of the first movement. Also, the slower sections recall "Hey, Then, Up Go We" as a contemplative expression. This mood is broken by the sudden push of the Presto con ferocità to the end.
(TRGcm:2007.12.13)