Octet (music)
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An octet (from Latin octo : "eight") is a group of eight performers or a composition for such a group. The title of the work Octet did not develop until the 19th century.
Basically, octets for any line-up of eight musicians are conceivable. However, some instrumentations were used more frequently and formed their own tradition.
Homogeneous line-ups
Eight strings
Although a large group of musicians gains sound by using a deep bass instrument, the use of two string quartets (i.e. four violins, two violas and two cellos) has established itself for a pure string ensemble, as this combination is the most easily available. The following composers have written string octets in the aforementioned scoring: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (E flat major op.20), Woldemar Bargiel (C minor op.15a), Joachim Raff (C major op.176), Max Bruch (1920) , George Enescu (C major op.7), Niels Gade (op.17), Johan Svendsen (op.3), Reinhold Moritzewitsch Glière ( op.5 ) and Dmitri Shostakowitsch (op.11).
Double quartet
The double quartet is a special form of the octet, in which the double-choir juxtaposition of two equally cast quartets is composed. Ludwig Spohr wrote four such works for two string quartets (in D minor op. 65, E flat major op. 77, E minor op. 87, G minor op. 136); he saw here "the task [...] of having two quartets sitting next to each other perform a piece of music, but often alternating and performing the two quartets in the manner of double choirs and saving the eight-part only for the main parts of the composition." Here he followed a suggestion by Andreas Romberg , whose double quartet has remained unfinished.
Eight wind instruments
Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven already wrote works for eight-part wind instruments, which, as so-called harmony music, are more of the divertimento or serenade genre and are therefore not referred to as "octets" by them. From an old orchestral tradition, the instruments here are mostly double-cast (about two oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons each); a double choir treatment of the instruments (as in the double quartet) is very rare.
In a similar line-up, Igor Stravinsky wrote his Octet for flute, clarinet, two bassoons, two trumpets and two trombones in 1923 .
Same instruments
The possibility of writing a four-part movement and having two parts in each part, but dividing it up as desired, has always led to a certain preference of the eight-part musicians when the same instruments are to be written for a larger group. In the 20th and 21st centuries, for example, works for eight cellos, eight horns, eight bassoons and eight double basses as well as ensembles with corresponding ensembles were created.
Mixed line-ups
Many works for eight musicians put a string and a wind section together and often add a polyphonically playable instrument such as piano, harp or drums in order to be able to lead three different timbres against each other. Two such occupations have proven particularly influential:
Schubert cast
Probably the most important classical work of chamber music with eight musicians is the octet in F major op. 166 by Franz Schubert from 1824 for two violins, viola, cello, double bass, clarinet, horn and bassoon. Together with the very similarly cast septet by Ludwig van Beethoven , it forms a separate line of tradition in the cast; Obviously, this instrumental combination offers particularly rich possibilities, since it ideally forces the basic sound of the classical orchestra with the chamber music string quartet tradition.
Composers have repeatedly written works in this or slightly modified scoring, including an octet in E major op.32 for clarinet, two horns, violin, two violas, violoncello and double bass by Louis Spohr in 1813 , and Ferdinand Ries in 1816 ( octet in F minor opus 128 , with piano instead of 2nd violin), 1958 Paul Hindemith ( “Octet” , with two violas instead of two violins), 1969 Iannis Xenakis ( “Anaktoria” ) and 1977 Michael Denhoff ( “O Orpheus sings” ).
"Octandre" cast
1923 wrote Edgar Varèse with "Octandre" a composition, simply occupied the all instruments: flute, clarinet, oboe, bassoon, horn, trumpet, trombone and double bass. In terms of the sound, it is not annoying that the double bass is not a wind instrument; This approach has also given rise to its own cast tradition. Examples are “Epei” by Iannis Xenakis (but only for six musicians) and “Eight” by John Cage (1991) (with tuba instead of the double bass).
Many large-scale chamber music works of New Music are written for an instrumentation of seven solo winds and a string quintet (sometimes with an added piano or percussion); such occupations can be viewed as syntheses of the octandre-type and the Schubert-type.
jazz
Of course, there are also ensembles with eight members outside of classical and new music. But in jazz alone , the line-up seems so important that groups typically name themselves according to the number of their members. An eight-member band can be considered unusually large, so that for economic reasons these remained rather temporary phenomena (examples can be found in George Coleman , David Murray , Slide Hampton , Dave Pell , Gerry Mulligan , Tubby Hayes and others).
In his recordings Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation from 1960, Ornette Coleman used a double rhythm section and therefore called his line-up a “double quartet” (two quartets made up of trumpet, reed instrument, bass and drums). The two quartets are separated in the stereo panorama, but are not otherwise juxtaposed in any way.
Choral music
Eight-part vocal music can be found in some professional ensembles, such as the Swingle Singers or the University of California Men's Octet . However, since there is relatively little eight-part vocal music, groups of eight singers usually only sing in four voices; therefore, eight-member - and sometimes much larger - vocal ensembles often refer to themselves as "double quartet". Thus, the term here has a fundamentally different meaning than in instrumental music.
literature
- Michael Wackerbauer: sextet, double quartet and octet. Studies on large-scale chamber music for strings in the 19th century (Regensburger Studien zur Musikgeschichte [1] , Vol. 6), Tutzing 2008, ISBN 978-3-7952-1121-9