Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

SESTET SEVOIK 427
8, 1809, as 'one of my earlier things, and not
positions of the third, fifth, and eighth of the
1 A lat Horn part is in existenoe, on which BeethoTen has writiMn
'6tet of mine. Ood Icnows where the other parts are.' The slow confirmed, by the brilliance of thenmovement
performances,
ha£ been adapted to voices as The Vesper Hymn,' and
'
had a wide poptdarity in ' Orpheus.' the effectiveness of his system of training, that
ground-tone in the third or fourth octave above. only that, but wi-itten in a single night ;
perhaps
The sesquialtera thus gives brilliance to the the only thing in its favour is that it is the
tone by reinforcing these upper partials.
work of an author who has at least brought
The origin of the term Sesquialtera, as applied forward better works—though for many such
to an organ stop, is rather obscure. In the works are the best.' (Nohl's NeiK Briefe, No.
list of ratios given by Boethius, at the close of 53.) Sterndale Bennett's Sestet for piano and
the 5th or beginning of the 6th century, which strings, a very early work (op. 8), is an elegant
were exactly reproduced by almost every writer pianoforte piece with an unimportant though
on music up to the 16th century, the term proportio
often picturesque accompaniment for strings,
sesquialtera signifies numbers having the in which the piano has an undue share of work.
ratio 2:3; the term therefore is really applicable
Onslow left two sestets— opp. 30 and 77 bis.
to all stops having pipes at an interval of It should be noticed that the sestets and
a fifth (or its octaves) from the groundtone, quintets of Keicha and other composers, when
such as the Quint, Twelfth, Larigot (nineteenth),
written for wind instruments only, are practically
etc. As stated above, the Sesquialtera quartets, one or more of the instruments taking
organ stop, does actually contain pipes having a rest in turn. [Vocal sestets occur in operas
this relation, only, and also contains pipes whenever the dramatic exigencies of the piece
having the ratio 5 : 4— the tierce—which require them ; there are two in Don Giovanni,'
'
Boethius called a proportio sesqttiquarta. On of which only one, 'Sola, sola,' is performed on
the whole it may be safely said that the word the ordinary stage, as the splendid finale is
Sesquialtera was originally used for the purpose usually left out in the present day. The sestet
of showing that the stop contained pipes having in Lucia ' ' was long famous, and there is a
ratios other than 2 : 1, or other than an octaveseries.
very fine specimen in Berlioz's 'Troyens a
J. s. Carthage.'] f. c.
SESTET, or SEXTET (Fr. Sextuor ; Ital. SEVCIK, Ottakae, violinist and pedagogue,
Sestetto). A composition for six instruments, was born on March 22, 1852, at Horazdowitz
or six voices, with or without accompaniment. in Bohemia, and is of Czech nationality. His
Instrumental sestets are of two kinds : those father, a teacher of the violin, after giving him
for strings only, which belong to the same elementary lessons, sent him in 1866 to the
class as string quartets and quintets, being Conservatorium in Prague, where he studied
monochromes in six real parts, and those for under Anton Bennewitz until 1870, and then
various combinations of strings, wind and accepted an appointment as Concertmeister of
pianoforte, which belong to the class of pianofoi-te
the Mozarteum in Salzburg. This engagement,
quartets, etc., and may be regarded as varied by the organising of self-supporting
miniature symphonies. The first of these two concerts at Prague, lasted imtil 1873, in which
classes is, naturally, but rarely met with, six-part year he made his d^but as a soloist at Vienna,
harmony not being esisy to write ; but the few becoming eventually Concertmeister of the
examples we have are striking ones. We may Komische Oper in that city. At the closing of
pass over Haydn's solitary specimen, called an the opera-house he gave concerts in Moscow,
'
Echo,' for four violins and two violoncellos, and in 1875 was appointed Professor at the
and mention only that of Spohr, in (op. 140), Imperial Music School in Kiev, remaining there
a charming work ; the two immortal compositions
till 1892, when he accepted an invitation from
of Brahms (Bb, op. 18 ; G, op. 36), which Anton Bennewitz, then dii-ector of the Prague
stand at the head of modern chambor-musio Conservatorium, to return to Bohemia and fill
the Sextet of Raff, op. 178, in G minor ;
;
and the post of principal professor of the violin at
that of Dvorak, op. 48.
that institution. From that day to this,
All the above are for two violins, two violas, although he has occasionally played in public
and two violoncellos. Turning now to the (for the last time in 1898), he has mainly
second and more comprehensive class, we find a devoted himself to teaching. His appointment
few more in point of number but none of much
happened to synchronise with the entry,
artistic value. The prolific Boccherini wrote as a pupil, of Jan Eubelik, then twelve years
sixteen, Haydn one, Mozart only the Musical
' of age, and possessed of a marvellous gift for
Joke.' Beethoven's Sestet for Strings and two technique. SeviSlk taught him for six years,
obbligato Horns (op. 816) is interesting, but moulding him in accordance with his own
unfortunately impracticable for modern players.* special theories of teaching, to which Kubelik's
His Sestet for Wind Instruments, op. 71 (for phenomenal success first drew the world's attention.
two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons, in
This success wa^ thought, however, to
Ei>) is an early work and little known. Beethoven
be very largely due to the young violinist's own
himself mentions it in a letter of August natural ability, and it was not until, first, Kocian,
and then, in a still greater degree, Marie Hall,