The second movement (Funebre) is a mournful chant that receives its

momentum from a repeated ostinato figure simulating a funeral

march. The closing moments of the movement reiterate its opening

theme with the juxtaposing of an F-sharp in the cello and an F-natural in

the second violin, as if to define death through discord. The final

movement begins with an opening theme that is energetic and

coruscating, only to be surpassed as the movement closes by a theme of

even greater vivacity. The work closes with a three-voice fugato.

Honegger considered the third and last of his string quartets to be his

best, and dedicated it to the generous American patron of new music of

his time, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The three movements were

composed in reverse order. The movement that eventually took its place

as the first (Allegro) is in 6/4 time and presents a hallmark of Honegger’s

musical technique: polychordal writing. According to Arthur Cohen The

Literature of Chamber Music, the ensemble “[is] treated almost like a 

minimal string orchestra. But the music is lean; no fat remains on its

edges.” The Adagio makes use of the ABA form and presents a sharp

contrast in texture with the outer movements. The third movement, also

marked Allegro, commences with a subtle and plaintive pizzicato melody

in the cello that grows into a fulminating main theme, played in unison

by the other strings. A second theme, announced initially by the viola

and cello, benefits from an accompaniment that is bom of the first

theme’s rhythmic impetus. After a dense and invigorating section in

which Honegger condenses the elements from the opening statement, the

quartet is brought to an end by a short melody that results in a piece of

music that is “ultradramatic” (Cohen).

Program notes by Elmer Booze

Concerts in April and May 2001 The Fifty-ninth Season of

Sundays at 7:00 p.m. in the West Building, West Garden Court

April

15 No concert

22 Barbara Moser, pianist

29 Karen Johnson,flutist

Brian Ganz, pianist

May/Fifty-eighth American Music

6 Diane Schuur

13 National Men’s Chorus

Thomas Beveridge, conductor

20 Jeffrey Chappell, pianist

Mozart: Fantasy in C Minor

Beethoven: “Eroica” Variations

Schubert/Liszt: Five Songs

Bellini/Liszt: Reminiscences de

Norma

Vaughan Williams: Ballet Suite

Gieseking: Variations on a

Theme by Grieg

Works by Poulenc, Anne Boyd,

and Sotireos Vlahopoulos

al

Jazz concert

Music by Thomas Beveridge 

and other American composers

Music by Charles Griffes, James 

Grant, Jeffrey Chappell, Sotireos

Vlahopoulos, and other composers

THE WILLIAM NELSON CROMWELL and

F. LAMMOT BELIN CONCERTS

National Gallery of Art

2380th Concert

PARISH STRING QUARTET

THIERRY BRODARD, violin JEAN-MICHEL BERRETTE, violin

DOMINIQUE LOBET, viola JEAN-PHILIPPE MARTIGNONI, cello

The use ofcameras or recording equipment during

the performance is not allowed.

27 Marilyn Taylor, soprano

Robert Brewer, pianist

Music by Charles Vardell, Robert 

Ward, and Ken Frazelle

Selectionsfrom concerts at the Gallery

can be heard on the second Sunday ofeach month For the convenience of concertgoers

at 9:00p.m. on WGMS, 103.5 FM. the Garden Cafe remains open until 6:30 p.m.

Sunday Evening, 8 April 2001 

Seven O'clock

West Building, West Garden Court

Admission free
PROGRAM Four prize-winning graduates of the Conservatoire National Superieur de

Paris formed the Parisii Quartet in 1984 and continue to the present day

Acting against her parents’ wish that she not study music, Germaine 

Tailleferre entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1904 at age twelve, after

Selectionsfrom the works of “Les Six” as its charter members: violinists Thierry Brodard and Jean-Michel

Berrette, violist Dominique Lobet, and cellist Jean-Philippe

having distinguished herself as a performer from the age of eight. It was

here that she studied with some of the best teachers in France, including

Darius Milhaud String Quartet No. 6 Martignoni. The quartet won early acclaim with its triumphs at three Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937), under whose guidance she won three

(1892-1974)

Souple et anime

Tres lent

Tres vif et rythme

Op. 77 (1922) major international competitions, Banff (1986), Munich (1987), and

Evian (1987), and tours regularly throughout Europe and the United 

Kingdom. Noted for its performances of distinctive and unusual

repertoire, the quartet has distinguished itself with award-winning 

recordings of intriguing works by such French composers as Menu,

top prizes. The end of her formal training came with her private studies

in composition and orchestration with the renowned theorist Charles 

Koechlin (1867-1950), followed by advice and encouragement from 

Maurice Ravel (1875-1937). She was the only female among the group

known informally as “Les Six” and formally as the Societe des Nouveaux

Louis Durey String Quartet No. 2 Pierne, and Tailleferre, as well as the complete works for string quartet Jeunes. Her membership in the group was secured by the submission of

(1888-1979)

Tres anime

Presto ma non troppo

Tres modere

(1910) by Anton Webern. The quartets repertoire currently includes the

extraordinary Le livre pour quatour by Pierre Boulez. The Parisii

Quartet appears at the National Gallery by arrangement with Melvin

Kaplan, Inc., of Burlington, Vermont.

Milhaud’s String Quartet No. 6 is dedicated to Francis Poulenc. It is

two works: Jeux de plein air (1918), for two pianos, and two movements 

of her String Quartet (1919). According to writer Jacinthe Harbec, her 

early compositions featured two styles: impressionism enriched by

exotic, oriental colors, polyharmony, polytonality, and tone clusters, as

expressed in Image for flute, clarinet, celeste, piano, and string quartet

Germaine Tailleferre String Quartet written in three short movements that are a model of brevity. The (1918); and classicism, as exemplified by the string quartet on this

(1892-1983)

Modere

Intermede

INTERMISSION

(1918) opening movement comprises an abbreviated sonata-allegro form. The

viola and cello express the vivaciousness of the opening theme, which is

actually two melodies of different character. The violins enter 

subsequently, the second violin playing first over a detached accompaniment and the first violin joining with two phrases, one in E-flat 

major and the other in F major. The development section incorporates 

materials previously heard through an interplay of counterpoint that

program. Jean Cocteau (1891-1963) poetically described her as “a Marie

Laurencin for the ear, whose music has always been gracious and

feminine.”

Louis Durey decided to devote himself to music at age nineteen, after

attending a performance of Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande. Other

important influences were the songs of Arnold Schoenberg and the

music of Stravinsky and Satie. Durey distanced himself from “Les Six”

Darius Milhaud

Vif

Funebre

Tres anime

String Quartet No. 4

Op. 46(1918)

leads to the recapitulation, in which the theme heard at the beginning

of the movement is played without alteration. The second movement 

is in the key of B major, with a meter signature of 8/8. Each 

instrument is projected in a solo performance with a unique theme, but 

it is the first violin that carries the principal theme. The last 

movement is in the key of G major, with an exuberant opening theme

after only a short association with the group, preferring to write music

with more sober gravity than was typical of their style. From the mid1930s to the mid-1950s, Durey undertook numerous projects linking

music and politics, including a cycle of songs with texts by Mao Tsetung. He was an officer in two left-wing French organizations for

musicians, the Federation Musicale Populaire and the Association

Arthur Honegger String Quartet No. 3 not unlike the folk dances of the Auvergne region of France. Milhaud Fran^aise des Musiciens Progressistes.

(1892-1955)

Allegro

Adagio

Allegro

(1936) introduces variegated rhythmic patterns through the use of 2/8, 3/8,

4/8, 5/8, and 6/8 meter changes.

Milhaud’s Fourth String Quartet, dedicated to Felix Delgrange, was

written in Rio de Janeiro and first performed in 1919 by the Women’s

Capelle Quartet. The first movement, with a time signature

of 9/8, is of a bucolic nature. It introduces the polytonality that

continues throughout the work.