String Quintet (Kaminski)
The string quintet in F sharp minor is the most extensive chamber music composition by Heinrich Kaminski . It is written for two violins , two violas and violoncello .
History of origin
Kaminski began working on the string quintet towards the end of 1914. He worked rather slowly on the piece, so that the work took two years to complete. Interruptions caused by Kaminski's conscription for military service in March 1915 and 1916 dragged the compositional process even further. After the quintet had been completed at the end of 1916, the successful premiere took place on March 12, 1917 in Munich by Gertrud Schuster-Woldan, Valentin Härtl, Giacinta della Rocca, Philipp Hass and Johannes Hegar. In the same year, the work came to the Munich publishing house Otto Halbreiter in print. It was later taken over by Universal Edition in Vienna .
In March 1927 the composer created a new version of the string quintet, in which he left the basic structure of the composition untouched and limited himself to changes in the instrumentation and the occasional addition or removal of secondary voices. A short time later, Kaminski's pupil Reinhard Schwarz-Schilling created an arrangement for string orchestra, which was published under the title "Work for String Orchestra" in 1928 by Universal Edition and premiered on February 22, 1929 in Wuppertal under the direction of Franz von Hoeßlin .
Heinrich Kaminski's string quintet is considered one of the most important works of its genre, but is seldom played because of the very high demands it places on the performers - the musicians at the premiere were only able to master the piece after around 25 rehearsals.
The work
The quintet, lasting about 55 minutes, consists of four movements, the structure of which can be traced back to traditional forms. However - typical for Kaminski - these are handled fairly freely. As in most of the composer's other works, the composition of the work is determined by strict polyphony .
1st movement: Adagio - Allegro - Andante
In the sonata-shaped first movement ( F sharp minor , mostly ¾ time), the action takes place at three different tempo levels. At the beginning, the two basic elements of the first part of the exhibition are presented: A two-bar Adagio motif is followed by a two-bar long motif in the Allegro . The process is repeated, the Allegro motif tries to unfold, but is interrupted twice by two Adagio bars before it can prevail from bar 21. The second section of the exposition is reached in measure 47. An Andante in A major is formed from the Allegro motif of the previous part . After a key change to F minor , the measure accelerates to the Allegro , but is again interrupted by Adagio bars. The final group that begins in measure 74 is again in the Andante . Here the two initial motifs are layered on top of each other. Changes in tempo between Allegro and Andante announce the development, which begins in bar 110, decides on the Allegro time measure and, with the exception of a very calm section in bars 158 to 164, remains in it. The two main motifs, which were already used in different ways in the exposition, appear here in many new variants and combinations. From bar 175 the tempo changes at the beginning of the sentence are repeated, which marks the beginning of the greatly shortened recapitulation. The second part of the exposition is only hinted at, the third is left out entirely. After four retarding poco-adagio bars on the violoncello, the short coda breaks off in bar 203, ending the movement Allegro risoluto .
2nd movement: Andante
The slow second movement ( A major , usually ¾ time), which is supposed to be attached to the first attacca, can formally be interpreted as an extended song form. He begins pianissimo with muted instruments. As in the first sentence, there are no actual issues here. Quiet eighth-note movement predominates. A new section begins with bar 27; it is characterized by fugal structures at the beginning. From bar 53 there is a resumption of the music from the beginning of the sentence, which in the further course also includes movement elements of the second section. In terms of sound, the harmonics of the first violin and later the first viola are striking. A slightly faster middle section, which is mostly held in a sixteenth-note movement, follows in measure 86. At bar 104 a free variation of the first part follows. At bar 130 it ends in a concise Adagio coda, which is formed from the first motif of the first movement.
3rd movement: Allegro grazioso - Andantino - Allegro leggiero
In the scherzo-like third movement (F sharp minor), time changes acquire a special meaning. The main theme initially fluctuates between 4/4 and 3/4 time - with two inserted 3/2 times - in order to temporarily decide in favor of 3/4 time in a continuing intermediate section. This is followed by a varied resumption of the 4/4 3/4 beginning, which leads to a Tranquillo episode again in 3/4 time . A lively, triplet -like transition leads to the Andantino part ( C sharp minor ) representing the trio , which begins in bar 87 and uses 3/4 time throughout. Rising and falling scales and chord breaks in eighth notes predominate here. The short middle section from bar 111 to bar 121 appears more like a continuation and hardly forms a contrast to the two similar outer parts. From bar 146 there follows a very free recapitulation of the scherzo, now labeled Allegro leggiero . Instead of fluctuating between 4/4 and 3/4 time, a change from 5/4 to 3/4 time is now used. The coda from bar 225 is primarily in 3/2 time and initially ties in with the Andantino , then an Allegro transition leads to the finale.
4th movement: Fugue
The last and most weighty movement of the quintet (F sharp minor) is composed in the form of a large fugue which, with a duration of approx. 20 minutes, takes up more than a third of the total playing time. It is anything but school-like, which is reflected in the fact that the fugue theme is performed at the beginning in a broken interplay of mutual complementarity by all five strings and not, as is usually the case, initially by one instrument alone. In the following, the focus is not on the contrapuntal arrangements - even though the whole movement is very artfully crafted from a purely technical point of view - but on the continuous further development of the thematic material, with a dotted counterpoint acquiring particular importance in addition to the actual fugue theme. Strictly speaking, the finale actually consists of a chain of butt joints, all of which start from variations on the same basic idea.
The exposition or the first execution of the fugue has an energetic pushing forward character, is in 4/4 time and usually moves in rapid sixteenths. The very calm second development (bars 86-105) in 12/8 time, on the other hand, is much slower and more lyrical, with the instruments playing mostly very softly. The following four implementations (bars 106–144, bars 145–187, bars 188–253, bars 236–248), which are mostly in 2/4 time, are more animated again. In the transition parts that connect them, however, the tempo changes of the first movement are resumed: here, slow beats regularly break through, which act like retarding moments and against which the fast measure of time has to prevail again and again. After a longer, very calm 4/4 insertion, the last development follows in measure 259 in 4/8 time and Allegro tempo, which ends in the coda in measure 295. An extended organ point passage introduces the furious final ascension , which leads the dynamics to fortefortissimo in the last bars . The final F sharp major chord follows subito piano .