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108-736: The Dallas Chamber Symphony (DCS) is a professional, American chamber orchestra that performs in the Moody Performance Hall in the Arts District, Dallas . Founded in 2011, and led by artistic director, Richard McKay ; the DCS presented its first season in 2012, and performs most of its concerts in the Moody Performance Hall . Critics have described the DCS as “extremely adroit”, “fresh” and “innovative.” The orchestra has been lauded for its film series, which pairs classic silent films with newly commissioned scores. Japanese violinist Kazuhiro Takagi

216-403: A hitchpin that secures it to the case. While many harpsichords have one string per note, more elaborate harpsichords can have two or more strings for each note. When there are multiple strings for each note, these additional strings are called "choirs" of strings. This provides two advantages: the ability to vary volume and ability to vary tonal quality. Volume is increased when the mechanism of

324-570: A 5-octave instrument is F 1 –F 6 (FF–f‴). Tuning pitch is often taken to be A 4  = 415 Hz, roughly a semitone lower than the modern standard concert pitch of A 4  = 440 Hz. An accepted exception is for French baroque repertoire, which is often performed with a = 392 Hz, approximately a semitone lower again. See Jean-Philippe Rameau 's Treatise on Harmony (1722) [Dover Publications], Book One, chapter five, for insight into French baroque tuning; "Since most of these semitones are absolutely necessary in

432-467: A clavicytherium, the jacks move horizontally without the assistance of gravity, so that clavicytherium actions are more complex than those of other harpsichords. Ottavini are small spinets or virginals at four-foot pitch . Harpsichords at octave pitch were more common in the early Renaissance, but lessened in popularity later on. However, the ottavino remained very popular as a domestic instrument in Italy until

540-401: A conversation, often truly beautiful, often oddly and turbidly woven, among four people." Their awareness is exemplified by composer and virtuoso violinist Louis Spohr . Spohr divided his 36 string quartets into two types: the quatuor brillant , essentially a violin concerto with string trio accompaniment; and quatuor dialogue , in the conversational tradition. During the 19th century, with

648-410: A full orchestral section. J. S. Bach: Trio sonata on YouTube from The Musical Offering , played by Ensemble Brillante Baroque chamber music was often contrapuntal ; that is, each instrument played the same melodic materials at different times, creating a complex, interwoven fabric of sound. Because each instrument was playing essentially the same melodies, all the instruments were equal. In

756-567: A giant of Western music. Beethoven transformed chamber music, raising it to a new plane, both in terms of content and in terms of the technical demands on performers and audiences. His works, in the words of Maynard Solomon , were "...the models against which nineteenth-century romanticism measured its achievements and failures." His late quartets , in particular, were considered so daunting an accomplishment that many composers after him were afraid to try composing quartets; Johannes Brahms composed and tore up 20 string quartets before he dared publish

864-423: A hall and collecting the receipts from the performance. Increasingly, they wrote chamber music not only for rich patrons, but for professional musicians playing for a paying audience. At the beginning of the 19th century, luthiers developed new methods of constructing the violin , viola and cello that gave these instruments a richer tone, more volume, and more carrying power. Also at this time, bowmakers made

972-438: A harpsichord may have more than one keyboard manual , and even a pedal board . Harpsichords may also have stop buttons which add or remove additional octaves. Some harpsichords may have a buff stop, which brings a strip of buff leather or other material in contact with the strings, muting their sound to simulate the sound of a plucked lute . The term denotes the whole family of similar plucked-keyboard instruments, including

1080-450: A harpsichord with lowest key E is tuned to match the keyboard layout. When scholars specify the pitch range of instruments with this kind of short octave, they write "C/E", meaning that the lowest note is a C, played on a key that normally would sound E. In another arrangement , known as "G/B', the apparent lowest key B is tuned to G, and apparent C-sharp and D-sharp are tuned to A and B respectively. The wooden case holds in position all of

1188-454: A hundred string quartets, and more than one hundred quintets for two violins, viola and two cellos. In this innovative ensemble, later used by Schubert , Boccherini gives flashy, virtuosic solos to the principal cello, as a showcase for his own playing. Violinist Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf and cellist Johann Baptist Wanhal , who both played pickup quartets with Haydn on second violin and Mozart on viola, were popular chamber music composers of

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1296-609: A keyboard instrument (harpsichord or organ) or by a string quartet or a string orchestra . The instrumentation of trio sonatas was also often flexibly specified; some of Handel's sonatas are scored for " German flute , Hoboy [oboe] or Violin" Bass lines could be played by violone , cello , theorbo , or bassoon , and sometimes three or four instruments would join in the bass line in unison. Sometimes composers mixed movements for chamber ensembles with orchestral movements. Telemann's 'Tafelmusik' (1733), for example, has five sets of movements for various combinations of instruments, ending with

1404-434: A lid that can be raised, a cover for the keyboard, and a music stand for holding sheet music and scores. Harpsichords have been decorated in a great many different ways: with plain buff paint (e.g. some Flemish instruments), with paper printed with patterns, with leather or velvet coverings, with chinoiserie , or occasionally with highly elaborate painted artwork. The virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of

1512-462: A mechanism (the "coupler") that couples manuals together, so that a single manual plays both sets of strings. The most flexible system is the French "shove coupler", in which the lower manual slides forward and backward. In the backward position, "dogs" attached to the upper surface of the lower manual engage the lower surface of the upper manual's keys. Depending on choice of keyboard and coupler position,

1620-462: A movement that contended that "pure music" had run its course with Beethoven, and that new, programmatic forms of music –in which music created "images" with its melodies–were the future of the art. The composers of this school had no use for chamber music. Opposing this view was Johannes Brahms and his associates, especially the powerful music critic Eduard Hanslick . This War of the Romantics shook

1728-630: A music lover and amateur baryton player, for whom Haydn wrote many of his string trios. Mozart wrote three string quartets for the King of Prussia, Frederick William II , a cellist. Many of Beethoven's quartets were first performed with patron Count Andrey Razumovsky on second violin. Boccherini composed for the king of Spain. With the decline of the aristocracy and the rise of new social orders throughout Europe, composers increasingly had to make money by selling their compositions and performing concerts. They often gave subscription concerts, which involved renting

1836-413: A pedal harpsichord, most pedal harpsichords were built based on the designs of extant pedal pianos from the 19th century, in which the instrument is as wide as the pedalboard. While these were mostly intended as practice instruments for organists, a few pieces are believed to have been written specifically for the pedal harpsichord. However, the set of pedals can augment the sound from any piece performed on

1944-422: A string adjacent to the gap. The English diarist Samuel Pepys mentions his "tryangle" several times. This was not the percussion instrument that we call triangle today; rather, it was a name for octave-pitched spinets, which were triangular in shape. A clavicytherium is a harpsichord with the soundboard and strings mounted vertically facing the player, the same space-saving principle as an upright piano . In

2052-424: A strong connection with the community. Composers were in high favor with orchestral works and solo virtuosi works, which made up the largest part of the public concert repertoire. Early French composers including Camille Saint-Saëns and César Franck . Apart from the "central" Austro-Germanic countries, there was an occurrence of the subculture of chamber music in other regions such as Britain. There chamber music

2160-559: A table. Such tables were often quite high – until the late 18th century people usually played standing up. Eventually, harpsichords came to be built with just a single case, though an intermediate stage also existed: the false inner–outer , which for purely aesthetic reasons was built to look as if the outer case contained an inner one, in the old style. Even after harpsichords became self-encased objects, they often were supported by separate stands, and some modern harpsichords have separate legs for improved portability. Many harpsichords have

2268-616: A tuning other than equal temperament is used, the instrument requires retuning once the keyboard is shifted. Throughout the historical period, the harpsichord was characteristically decorated; for extensive discussion and illustration see Kottick (2003). Cases were painted in bright colors (especially in 18th century France), or covered with elaborate wood veneer (18th century England), or adorned with sculptural moldings and knobs (Italy). Soundboards bore paintings, either of individual items such as flowers and animals (Flanders, also France), or even (in expensive instruments), full-scale paintings of

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2376-475: A type of music to be played as much as performed. Amateur quartet societies sprang up throughout Europe, and no middling-sized city in Germany or France was without one. These societies sponsored house concerts , compiled music libraries, and encouraged the playing of quartets and other ensembles. In European countries, in particular Germany and France, like minded musicians were brought together and started to develop

2484-635: A wealthy Jewish family in Hamburg, Mendelssohn proved himself a child prodigy. By the age of 16, he had written his first major chamber work, the String Octet, Op. 20 . Already in this work, Mendelssohn showed some of the unique style that was to characterize his later works; notably, the gossamer light texture of his scherzo movements, exemplified also by the Canzonetta movement of the String Quartet, Op. 12 , and

2592-434: A work that he felt was worthy of the "giant marching behind". Beethoven made his formal debut as a composer with three Piano Trios, Op. 1 . Even these early works, written when Beethoven was only 22, while adhering to a strictly classical mold, showed signs of the new paths that Beethoven was to forge in the coming years. When he showed the manuscript of the trios to Haydn, his teacher, prior to publication, Haydn approved of

2700-400: Is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard . This activates a row of levers that turn a trigger mechanism that plucks one or more strings with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic. The strings are under tension on a soundboard , which is mounted in a wooden case; the soundboard amplifies the vibrations from the strings so that the listeners can hear it. Like a pipe organ ,

2808-432: Is a long, lyrical solo for cello in the second movement, giving the cello a new type of voice in the quartet conversation. And the last movement of Op. 18, No. 6, "La Malincolia", creates a new type of formal structure, interleaving a slow, melancholic section with a manic dance. Beethoven was to use this form in later quartets, and Brahms and others adopted it as well. Beethoven: Quartet, Op. 59, No. 3 , played by

2916-460: Is his series of 555 harpsichord sonatas . Perhaps the most celebrated composers who wrote for the harpsichord were Georg Friedrich Händel (1685–1759), who composed numerous suites for harpsichord, and especially J. S. Bach (1685–1750), whose solo works (for instance, The Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations ), continue to be performed very widely, often on the piano. Bach

3024-414: Is made of hardwood and is normally attached to the wrestplank. The section of the string beyond the nut forms its vibrating length , which is plucked and creates sound. At the other end of its vibrating length, the string passes over the bridge , another sharp edge made of hardwood . As with the nut, the horizontal position of the string along the bridge is determined by a vertical metal pin inserted into

3132-488: Is obtained when the strings plucked simultaneously are an octave apart. This is normally heard by the ear not as two pitches but as one: the sound of the higher string is blended with that of the lower one, and the ear hears the lower pitch, enriched in tonal quality by the additional strength in the upper harmonics of the note sounded by the higher string. When describing a harpsichord it is customary to specify its choirs of strings, often called its disposition . To describe

3240-587: Is often able to control which choirs sound. This is usually done by having a set of jacks for each choir, and a mechanism for "turning off" each set, often by moving the upper register (through which the jacks slide) sideways a short distance, so that their plectra miss the strings. In simpler instruments this is done by manually moving the registers, but as the harpsichord evolved, builders invented levers, knee levers and pedal mechanisms to make it easier to change registration. Harpsichords with more than one keyboard (this usually means two keyboards, stacked one on top of

3348-548: Is the concertmaster . The DCS performs its main concert series in Moody Performance Hall , which opened in 2012. Designed by Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill LLP, with Dallas architecture firm Corgan serving as the architect of record, the center is in the heart of the Dallas Arts District . The Dallas International Piano Competition took place for the first time in Dallas, Texas, from March 14–16, 2013. In November, 2012,

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3456-410: Is wound around a tuning pin (also known as a wrest pin ) at the end nearest the player. When rotated with a wrench or tuning hammer, the tuning pin adjusts the tension so that the string sounds the correct pitch. Tuning pins are held tightly in holes drilled in the pinblock or wrestplank , an oblong hardwood plank. Proceeding from the tuning pin, a string next passes over the nut , a sharp edge that

3564-636: The Baroque – two treble instruments and a bass instrument , often with a keyboard or other chording instrument ( harpsichord , organ , harp or lute , for example) filling in the harmony. Both the bass instrument and the chordal instrument would play the basso continuo part. During the Baroque period, chamber music as a genre was not clearly defined. Often, works could be played on any variety of instruments, in orchestral or chamber ensembles. The Art of Fugue by Johann Sebastian Bach , for example, can be played on

3672-406: The Baroque era , the harpsichord was one of the main instruments used in chamber music. The harpsichord used quills to pluck strings, and it had a delicate sound. Due to the design of the harpsichord, the attack or weight with which the performer played the keyboard did not change the volume or tone. Between about 1750 and the late 1700s, the harpsichord gradually fell out of use. By the late 1700s,

3780-610: The Blanchet family and Pascal Taskin , are among the most widely admired of all harpsichords, and are frequently used as models for the construction of modern instruments. In England, the Kirkman and Shudi firms produced sophisticated harpsichords of great power and sonority. German builders such as Hieronymus Albrecht Hass extended the sound repertoire of the instrument by adding sixteen-foot and two-foot choirs; these instruments have recently served as models for modern builders. Around

3888-463: The Große Fuge , of the late quartets, as, "...this absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever." The string quartets 1–6, Op. 18 , were written in the classical style, in the same year that Haydn wrote his Op. 76 string quartets . Even here, Beethoven stretched the formal structures pioneered by Haydn and Mozart. In the quartet Op. 18, No. 1, in F major, for example, there

3996-581: The Joachim Quartet , led by Joseph Joachim , debuted many of the new string quartets by Brahms and other composers. Another famous quartet player was Vilemina Norman Neruda , also known as Lady Hallé. Indeed, during the last third of the century, women performers began taking their place on the concert stage: an all-women string quartet led by Emily Shinner , and the Lucas quartet, also all women, were two notable examples. Harpsichord A harpsichord

4104-652: The Modigliani Quartet Piano Trio, Op. 70, No. 1, "Ghost" , played by the Claremont Trio In the years 1805 to 1806, Beethoven composed the three Op. 59 quartets on a commission from Count Razumovsky, who played second violin in their first performance. These quartets, from Beethoven's middle period, were pioneers in the romantic style. Besides introducing many structural and stylistic innovations, these quartets were much more difficult technically to perform – so much so that they were, and remain, beyond

4212-485: The contrabass . Beethoven: Septet, Op. 20 , first movement, played by the Ensemble Mediterrain In his 17 string quartets, composed over the course of 37 of his 56 years, Beethoven goes from classical composer par excellence to creator of musical Romanticism, and finally, with his late string quartets, he transcends classicism and romanticism to create a genre that defies categorization. Stravinsky referred to

4320-445: The fortepiano (and then the increasing use of the piano in the 19th century) the harpsichord gradually disappeared from the musical scene (except in opera, where it continued to be used to accompany recitative ). In the 20th century, it made a resurgence, being used in historically informed performances of older music, in new compositions, and, in rare cases, in certain styles of popular music (e.g., Baroque pop ). The harpsichord

4428-446: The pianoforte became more popular as an instrument for performance. Even though the pianoforte was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori at the beginning of the 1700s, it did not become widely used until the end of that century, when technical improvements in its construction made it a more effective instrument. Unlike the harpsichord, the pianoforte could play soft or loud dynamics and sharp sforzando attacks depending on how hard or soft

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4536-669: The 18th century, tastes began to change: many composers preferred a new, lighter Galant style, with "thinner texture, ... and clearly defined melody and bass" to the complexities of counterpoint. Now a new custom arose that gave birth to a new form of chamber music: the serenade . Patrons invited street musicians to play evening concerts below the balconies of their homes, their friends and their lovers. Patrons and musicians commissioned composers to write suitable suites of dances and tunes, for groups of two to five or six players. These works were called serenades, nocturnes, divertimenti, or cassations (from gasse=street). The young Joseph Haydn

4644-563: The 19th century. In the Low Countries, an ottavino was commonly paired with an 8' virginals, encased in a small cubby under the soundboard of the larger instrument. The ottavino could be removed and placed on top of the virginal, making, in effect, a double manual instrument. These are sometimes called 'mother-and-child' or 'double' virginals. Occasionally, harpsichords were built which included another set or sets of strings underneath and played by foot-operated pedal keyboard which trigger

4752-539: The 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying recitative , but the piano sometimes displaced it even there. Twentieth-century efforts to revive the harpsichord began with instruments that used piano technology, with heavy strings and metal frames. Starting in the middle of the 20th century, ideas about harpsichord making underwent a major change, when builders such as Frank Hubbard , William Dowd , and Martin Skowroneck sought to re-establish

4860-447: The 21st century), which plucks the string. When the player releases the key, the far end returns to its rest position, and the jack falls back; the plectrum, mounted on a tongue mechanism that can swivel backwards away from the string, passes the string without plucking it again. As the key reaches its rest position, a felt damper atop the jack stops the string's vibrations. These basic principles are explained in detail below. Each string

4968-510: The DCS premiered a new film score to the silent-film comedy A Sailor-Made Man , starring Harold Lloyd . The score was commissioned specifically by the symphony as part of their film series and was composed by Brian Satterwhite. On February 26, 2013, as part of its film series, the DCS Premiered a new all-strings film score to the silent-film horror classic The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari , starring Conrad Veidt . As with A Sailor-Made Man ,

5076-534: The Fredonia Quartet Program, July 2008 Schubert's music, as his life, exemplified the contrasts and contradictions of his time. On the one hand, he was the darling of Viennese society: he starred in soirées that became known as Schubertiaden , where he played his light, mannered compositions that expressed the gemütlichkeit of Vienna of the 1820s. On the other hand, his own short life was shrouded in tragedy, wracked by poverty and ill health. Chamber music

5184-570: The Op. 59 quartets, Beethoven wrote two more quartets during his middle period – Op. 74 , the "Harp" quartet, named for the unusual harp-like effect Beethoven creates with pizzicato passages in the first movement, and Op. 95 , the "Serioso". The Serioso is a transitional work that ushers in Beethoven's late period – a period of compositions of great introspection. "The particular kind of inwardness of Beethoven's last style period", writes Joseph Kerman, gives one

5292-405: The artistic world of the period, with vituperative exchanges between the two camps, concert boycotts, and petitions. Although amateur playing thrived throughout the 19th century, this was also a period of increasing professionalization of chamber music performance. Professional quartets began to dominate the chamber music concert stage. The Hellmesberger Quartet , led by Joseph Hellmesberger , and

5400-402: The bridge, against which the string rests. The bridge itself rests on a soundboard , a thin panel of wood usually made of spruce , fir or—in some Italian harpsichords— cypress . The soundboard efficiently transmits the vibrations of the strings into vibrations in the air; without a soundboard, the strings would produce only a very feeble sound. A string is attached at its far end by a loop to

5508-451: The building traditions of the Baroque period. Harpsichords of this type of historically informed building practice dominate the current scene. Harpsichords vary in size and shape, but all have the same basic mechanism. The player depresses a key that rocks over a pivot in the middle of its length. The other end of the key lifts a jack (a long strip of wood) that holds a small plectrum (a wedge-shaped piece of quill , often made of plastic in

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5616-438: The chamber music instruments. Many of Schumann's chamber works, including all three of his string quartets and his piano quartet have contrapuntal sections interwoven seamlessly into the overall compositional texture. The composers of the first half of the 19th century were acutely aware of the conversational paradigm established by Haydn and Mozart. Schumann wrote that in a true quartet "everyone has something to say ...

5724-520: The development of cyclic structure. In his Piano Quintet in E ;flat, Op. 44 , Schumann wrote a double fugue in the finale, using the theme of the first movement and the theme of the last movement. Both Schumann and Mendelssohn, following the example set by Beethoven, revived the fugue, which had fallen out of favor since the Baroque period. However, rather than writing strict, full-length fugues , they used counterpoint as another mode of conversation between

5832-440: The elder composer to say to Mozart's father, "I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition." Many other composers wrote chamber compositions during this period that were popular at the time and are still played today. Luigi Boccherini , Italian composer and cellist, wrote nearly

5940-633: The emerging romantic style. In his 31 years, Schubert devoted much of his life to chamber music , composing 15 string quartets, two piano trios, string trios, a piano quintet commonly known as the Trout Quintet , an octet for strings and winds , and his famous quintet for two violins, viola, and two cellos. Franz Schubert , Trout Quintet , D. 667, performed by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Schubert on YouTube : String Quintet in C, D. 956, first movement, recorded at

6048-562: The ethereal, dreamlike effect of open intervals between the high E string and the open A string in the second movement of quartet Op. 132; the use of sul ponticello (playing on the bridge of the violin) for a brittle, scratchy sound in the Presto movement of Op. 131; the use of the Lydian mode , rarely heard in Western music for 200 years, in Op. 132; a cello melody played high above all the other strings in

6156-416: The feeling that "the music is sounding only for the composer and for one other auditor, an awestruck eavesdropper: you." In the late quartets, the quartet conversation is often disjointed, proceeding like a stream of consciousness. Melodies are broken off, or passed in the middle of the melodic line from instrument to instrument. Beethoven uses new effects, never before essayed in the string quartet literature:

6264-481: The final, vigorous Presto movement, he returns to the opening adagio to conclude the piece. This string quartet is also Mendelssohn's homage to Beethoven; the work is studded with quotes from Beethoven's middle and late quartets. During his adult life, Mendelssohn wrote two piano trios, seven works for string quartet, two string quintets, the octet, a sextet for piano and strings, and numerous sonatas for piano with violin, cello, and clarinet. Robert Schumann continued

6372-463: The finale of Op. 132. Yet for all this disjointedness, each quartet is tightly designed, with an overarching structure that ties the work together. Beethoven wrote eight piano trios, five string trios, two string quintets, and numerous pieces for wind ensemble. He also wrote ten sonatas for violin and piano and five sonatas for cello and piano. As Beethoven, in his last quartets, went off in his own direction, Franz Schubert carried on and established

6480-407: The first harpsichords with two keyboards, used for transposition . The Flemish instruments served as the model for 18th-century harpsichord construction in other nations. In France, the double keyboards were adapted to control different choirs of strings, making a more musically flexible instrument (so-called 'expressive doubles'). Instruments from the peak of the French tradition, by makers such as

6588-502: The first two, but warned against publishing the third trio, in C minor, as too radical, warning it would not "...be understood and favorably received by the public." Haydn was wrong—the third trio was the most popular of the set, and Haydn's criticisms caused a falling-out between him and the sensitive Beethoven. The trio is, indeed, a departure from the mold that Haydn and Mozart had formed. Beethoven makes dramatic deviations of tempo within phrases and within movements. He greatly increases

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6696-423: The harpsichord ). Some early harpsichords used a short octave for the lowest register. The rationale behind this system was that the low notes F ♯ and G ♯ are seldom needed in early music . Deep bass notes typically form the root of the chord, and F ♯ and G ♯ chords were seldom used at this time. In contrast, low C and D, both roots of very common chords, are sorely missed if

6804-475: The harpsichord having only one string per note; the strings run parallel to the keyboard, which is on the long side of the case. A spinet is a harpsichord with the strings set at an angle (usually about 30 degrees) to the keyboard. The strings are too close together for the jacks to fit between them. Instead, the strings are arranged in pairs, and the jacks are in the larger gaps between the pairs. The two jacks in each gap face in opposite directions, and each plucks

6912-456: The harpsichord its external appearance and protects the instrument. A large harpsichord is, in a sense, a piece of furniture, as it stands alone on legs and may be styled in the manner of other furniture of its place and period. Early Italian instruments, on the other hand, were so light in construction that they were treated rather like a violin: kept for storage in a protective outer case, and played after taking it out of its case and placing it on

7020-443: The important structural members: pinblock, soundboard, hitchpins, keyboard, and the jack action. It usually includes a solid bottom, and also internal bracing to maintain its form without warping under the tension of the strings. Cases vary greatly in weight and sturdiness: Italian harpsichords are often of light construction; heavier construction is found in the later Flemish instruments and those derived from them. The case also gives

7128-515: The independence of the strings, especially the cello, allowing it to range above the piano and occasionally even the violin. If his Op. 1 trios introduced Beethoven's works to the public, his Septet, Op. 20 , established him as one of Europe's most popular composers. The septet, scored for violin, viola, cello, contrabass, clarinet, horn, and bassoon, was a huge hit. It was played in concerts again and again. It appeared in transcriptions for many combinations – one of which, for clarinet, cello and piano,

7236-399: The instrument is set up by the player (see below) so that the press of a single key plucks more than one string. Tonal quality can be varied in two ways. First, different choirs of strings can be designed to have distinct tonal qualities, usually by having one set of strings plucked closer to the nut, which emphasizes the higher harmonics , and produces a "nasal" sound quality. The mechanism of

7344-407: The instrument, as demonstrated on several albums by E. Power Biggs . The archicembalo , built in the 16th century, had an unusual keyboard layout, designed to accommodate variant tuning systems demanded by compositional practice and theoretical experimentation. More common were instruments with split sharps , also designed to accommodate the tuning systems of the time. The folding harpsichord

7452-404: The instrument, called "stops" (following the use of the term in pipe organs ) permits the player to select one choir or the other. Second, having one key pluck two strings at once changes not just volume but also tonal quality; for instance, when two strings tuned to the same pitch are plucked simultaneously, the note is not just louder but also richer and more complex. A particularly vivid effect

7560-460: The jacks labeled A and engages instead an alternative row of jacks called "lute stop" (not shown in the Figure). A lute stop is used to imitate the gentle sound of a plucked lute . The use of multiple manuals in a harpsichord was not originally provided for the flexibility in choosing which strings would sound, but rather for transposition of the instrument to play in different keys (see History of

7668-420: The kind usually executed on canvas. Keyboards could have the same "white keys" and "black keys" that pianos have today, but builders frequently employed the opposite pattern, with white sharps and black naturals. The study of harpsichord decoration became an important scholarly field in the 20th century, notably with the work of Sheridan Germann (2002), whose knowledge extended to the point of being able to pin down

7776-658: The middle of the 19th century, with the rise of the feminist movement, women also started to receive acceptability to be participated in chamber music. Thousands of quartets were published by hundreds of composers; between 1770 and 1800, more than 2000 quartets were published, and the pace did not decline in the next century. Throughout the 19th century, composers published string quartets now long neglected: George Onslow wrote 36 quartets and 35 quintets; Gaetano Donizetti wrote dozens of quartets, Antonio Bazzini , Anton Reicha , Carl Reissiger , Joseph Suk and others wrote to fill an insatiable demand for quartets. In addition, there

7884-507: The most famous composers who wrote for the harpsichord were the members of English virginal school of the late Renaissance, notably William Byrd ( c. 1540–1623). In France, a great number of highly characteristic solo works were created and compiled into four books of ordres by François Couperin (1668–1733). Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) began his career in Italy but wrote most of his solo harpsichord works in Spain; his most famous work

7992-412: The origin of classical instrumental ensembles to be the sonata da camera (chamber sonata) and the sonata da chiesa (church sonata). These were compositions for one to five or more instruments. The sonata da camera was a suite of slow and fast movements, interspersed with dance tunes; the sonata da chiesa was the same, but the dances were omitted. These forms gradually developed into the trio sonata of

8100-423: The other in a step-wise fashion, as with pipe organs) provide flexibility in selecting which strings play, since each manual can be set to control the plucking of a different set of strings. This means that a player can have, for instance, an 8' manual and a 4' manual ready for use, making it possible to switch between them to obtain higher (or lower) pitches or different tone. In addition, such harpsichords often have

8208-673: The particular anonymous artists who worked with particular builders. The great bulk of the standard repertoire for the harpsichord was written during its first historical flowering, the Renaissance and Baroque eras. The first music written specifically for solo harpsichord was published around the early 16th century. Composers who wrote solo harpsichord music were numerous during the whole Baroque era in European countries including Italy, Germany, England and France. Solo harpsichord compositions included dance suites , fantasias , and fugues . Among

8316-459: The performer played the keys. The improved pianoforte was adopted by Mozart and other composers, who began composing chamber ensembles with the piano playing a leading role. The piano was to become more and more dominant through the 19th century, so much so that many composers, such as Franz Liszt and Frédéric Chopin , wrote almost exclusively for solo piano (or solo piano with orchestra ). Ludwig van Beethoven straddled this period of change as

8424-404: The period would consist of Haydn was by no means the only composer developing new modes of chamber music. Even before Haydn, many composers were already experimenting with new forms. Giovanni Battista Sammartini , Ignaz Holzbauer , and Franz Xaver Richter wrote precursors of the string quartet. Franz Ignaz von Beecke (1733-1803), with his Piano Quintet in A minor (1770) and 17 string quartets

8532-439: The period. The turn of the 19th century saw dramatic changes in society and in music technology which had far-reaching effects on the way chamber music was composed and played. Throughout the 18th century, the composer was normally an employee of an aristocrat, and the chamber music he or she composed was for the pleasure of aristocratic players and listeners. Haydn, for example, was an employee of Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy ,

8640-464: The piano starting roughly in the late 1770s. Through the 19th century, the harpsichord was almost completely supplanted by the piano. In the 20th century, composers returned to the instrument, as they sought out variation in the sounds available to them. Under the influence of Arnold Dolmetsch , the harpsichordists Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (1872–1951) and in France, Wanda Landowska (1879–1959), were at

8748-633: The piano, and of symphonic composition, was not merely a matter of preference; it was also a matter of ideology . In the 1860s, a schism grew among romantic musicians over the direction of music. Many composers tend to express their romantic persona through their works. By the time, these chamber works are not necessarily dedicated for any specific dedicatee. Famous chamber works such as Fanny Mendelssohn D minor Piano Trio, Ludwig van Beethoven's Trio in E-flat major, and Franz Schubert's Piano Quintet in A major are all highly personal. Liszt and Richard Wagner led

8856-403: The pitch of the choirs of strings, pipe organ terminology is used. Strings at eight-foot pitch (8') sound at the normal expected pitch, strings at four-foot pitch (4') sound an octave higher. Harpsichords occasionally include a sixteen-foot (16') choir (one octave lower than eight-foot) or a two-foot (2') choir (two octaves higher; quite rare). When there are multiple choirs of strings, the player

8964-522: The player can select any of the sets of jacks labeled in "figure 4" as A, or B and C, or all three. The English "dogleg" jack system (also used in Baroque Flanders) does not require a coupler. The jacks labeled A in Figure 5 have a "dogleg" shape that permits either keyboard to play A. If the player wishes to play the upper 8' from the upper manual only and not from the lower manual, a stop handle disengages

9072-504: The plucking of the lowest-pitched keys of the harpsichord. Although there are no known extant pedal harpsichords from the 18th century or before, from Adlung (1758): the lower set of usually 8' strings "...is built like an ordinary harpsichord, but with an extent of two octaves only. The jacks are similar, but they will benefit from being arranged back to back, since the two [bass] octaves take as much space as four in an ordinary harpsichord Prior to 1980 when Keith Hill introduced his design for

9180-504: The present, chamber music has been a reflection of the changes in the technology and the society that produced it. During the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance , instruments were used primarily as accompaniment for singers. String players would play along with the melody line sung by the singer. There were also purely instrumental ensembles, often of stringed precursors of the violin family , called consorts . Some analysts consider

9288-474: The quintet for violin, two violas, cello, and horn, K. 407, quartets for flute and strings, and various wind instrument combinations. He wrote six string quintets for two violins, two violas and cello, which explore the rich tenor tones of the violas, adding a new dimension to the string quartet conversation. Mozart's string quartets are considered the pinnacle of the classical art. The six string quartets that he dedicated to Haydn , his friend and mentor, inspired

9396-436: The reach of many amateur string players. When first violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh complained of their difficulty, Beethoven retorted, "Do you think I care about your wretched violin when the spirit moves me?" Among the difficulties are complex syncopations and cross-rhythms; synchronized runs of sixteenth, thirty-second, and sixty-fourth notes; and sudden modulations requiring special attention to intonation . In addition to

9504-518: The rise of new technology driven by the Industrial Revolution , printed music became cheaper and thus more accessible while domestic music making gained widespread popularity. Composers began to incorporate new elements and techniques into their works to appeal to this open market, since there was an increased consumer desire for chamber music. While improvements in instruments led to more public performances of chamber music, it remained very much

9612-473: The scherzo of the Piano Trio No. 1 in D minor, Op. 49 . Another characteristic that Mendelssohn pioneered is the cyclic form in overall structure. This means the reuse of thematic material from one movement to the next, to give the total piece coherence. In his second string quartet , he opens the piece with a peaceful adagio section in A major, that contrasts with the stormy first movement in A minor. After

9720-625: The score was commissioned by the symphony and was composed by Brian Satterwhite. In 2014, the Dallas Chamber Symphony partnered with the Dallas Independent School District (DISD) for an educational concert performed at Moody Performance Hall in conjunction with the release of the orchestra's iPad music curriculum. Chamber orchestra Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends". For more than 100 years, chamber music

9828-517: The second theme, a lilting duet in the lower voices. The alternating Sturm und Drang and relaxation continue throughout the movement. These contending forces are expressed in some of Schubert's other works: in the quartet Death and the Maiden , the Rosamunde quartet and in the stormy, one-movement Quartettsatz, D. 703 . Unlike Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn had a life of peace and prosperity. Born into

9936-410: The smaller virginals , muselar , and spinet . The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music , both as an accompaniment instrument and as a soloing instrument. During the Baroque era, the harpsichord was a standard part of the continuo group . The basso continuo part acted as the foundation for many musical pieces in this era. During the late 18th century, with the development of

10044-567: The treble and bass lines of the piano score. But Mozart gives the strings an independent role, using them as a counter to the piano, and adding their individual voices to the chamber music conversation. Mozart introduced the newly invented clarinet into the chamber music arsenal, with the Kegelstatt Trio for viola, clarinet and piano, K. 498, and the Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet , K. 581. He also tried other innovative ensembles, including

10152-399: The trio sonata, there is often no ascendent or solo instrument, but all three instruments share equal importance. The harmonic role played by the keyboard or other chording instrument was subsidiary, and usually the keyboard part was not even written out; rather, the chordal structure of the piece was specified by numeric codes over the bass line, called figured bass . In the second half of

10260-461: The tuning of organs and other similar instruments, the following chromatic system has been drawn up." Tuning an instrument nowadays usually starts with setting an A; historically it would commence from a C or an F. The harpsichord uses the bass clef (F clef). Some modern instruments are built with keyboards that can shift sideways, allowing the player to align the mechanism with strings at either A = 415 Hz or A = 440 Hz. If

10368-468: The violin bow longer, with a thicker ribbon of hair under higher tension. This improved projection, and also made possible new bowing techniques. In 1820, Louis Spohr invented the chinrest, which gave violinists more freedom of movement in their left hands, for a more nimble technique. These changes contributed to the effectiveness of public performances in large halls, and expanded the repertoire of techniques available to chamber music composers. Throughout

10476-450: The way one instrument introduces a melody or motif and then other instruments subsequently "respond" with a similar motif – has been a thread woven through the history of chamber music composition from the end of the 18th century to the present. The analogy to conversation recurs in descriptions and analyses of chamber music compositions. From its earliest beginnings in the Medieval period to

10584-410: The year 1700 the first fortepiano was built by Bartolomeo Cristofori . The early fortepiano uses percussion, the strings being struck with leathered paper hammers instead of being plucked. Unlike the harpsichord, the fortepiano is capable of changes in dynamic volume, giving it its name. By the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of

10692-486: Was a lively market for string quartet arrangements of popular and folk tunes , piano works, symphonies, and opera arias . But opposing forces were at work. The middle of the 19th century saw the rise of superstar virtuosi, who drew attention away from chamber music toward solo performance. The piano, which could be mass-produced, became an instrument of preference, and many composers, like Chopin and Liszt, composed primarily if not exclusively for piano. The ascendance of

10800-461: Was also a pioneer of the harpsichord concerto, both in works designated as such, and in the harpsichord part of his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto . Two of the most prominent composers of the Classical era , Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), wrote harpsichord music. For both, the instrument featured in the earlier period of their careers, and was largely supplanted by

10908-462: Was also one of the pioneers of chamber music of the Classical period. Another renowned composer of chamber music of the period was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . Mozart's seven piano trios and two piano quartets were the first to apply the conversational principle to chamber music with piano. Haydn's piano trios are essentially piano sonatas with the violin and cello playing mostly supporting roles, doubling

11016-444: Was an instrument that could be folded up to make it more compact, thus facilitating travelling with it. On the whole, earlier harpsichords have smaller ranges than later ones, although there are many exceptions. The largest harpsichords have a range of just over five octaves , and the smallest have under four. Usually, the shortest keyboards were given extended range in the bass with a " short octave ". The traditional pitch range for

11124-401: Was commissioned to write several of these. Joseph Haydn is generally credited with creating the modern form of chamber music as we know it, although scholars today such as Roger Hickman argue "the idea that Haydn invented the string quartet and single-handedly advanced the genre is based on only a vague notion of the true history of the eighteenth-century genre." A typical string quartet of

11232-564: Was most likely invented in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th century, harpsichord makers in Italy were making lightweight instruments with low tension brass stringing. A different approach was taken in the Southern Netherlands starting in the late 16th century, notably by the Ruckers family. Their harpsichords used a heavier construction and produced a more powerful and distinctive tone with higher tension steel treble stringing. These included

11340-431: Was often performed by upper- and middle-class men with less advanced musical skills in an unexpected setting such as informal ensembles in private residence with few audience members. In Britain, the most common form of chamber music compositions are the string quartets , sentimental songs and piano chamber works like the piano trio , in a way depicts the standard conception of the conventional "Victorian music making". In

11448-568: Was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music (specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational people conversing". This conversational paradigm – which refers to

11556-453: Was the ideal medium to express this conflict, "to reconcile his essentially lyric themes with his feeling for dramatic utterance within a form that provided the possibility of extreme color contrasts." The String Quintet in C, D.956 , is an example of how this conflict is expressed in music. After a slow introduction, the first theme of the first movement, fiery and dramatic, leads to a bridge of rising tension, peaking suddenly and breaking into

11664-451: Was written by Beethoven himself – and was so popular that Beethoven feared it would eclipse his other works. So much so that by 1815, Carl Czerny wrote that Beethoven "could not endure his septet and grew angry because of the universal applause which it has received." The septet is written as a classical divertimento in six movements, including two minuets, and a set of variations. It is full of catchy tunes, with solos for everyone, including

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