Rosner - String Quartet No. 6, op. 118
Arnold Rosner (1945–2013) / String Quartet No. 6, op. 118 (2004)
Arnold Rosner (1945–2013) /
String Quartet No. 6, op. 118
(2004)
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ARNOLD ROSNER<br />
STRING QUARTET NO. 6<br />
<strong>op</strong>. <strong>118</strong> (2004)
Arnold <strong>Rosner</strong><br />
<strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6<br />
Duration: c. 11 min.<br />
Arnold <strong>Rosner</strong> (1945–2013)<br />
<strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6<br />
C<strong>op</strong>yright © 2015 The Estate of Arnold <strong>Rosner</strong>. www.arnoldrosnermusic.com<br />
Music engraved by Jeffrey Grossman in SCORE 4.01<br />
ver. 7 October 2015
There seems to be a strange trend in the careers and major works<br />
of certain American composers whom we think of as primarily traditionalists,<br />
conservatives and so forth. After having completed an<br />
impressive envel<strong>op</strong>e of symphonies in structured, neo-romantic and<br />
melodic style, for their late career they turned to more <strong>op</strong>aque works of<br />
greater tightness and severity, perhaps indulging in serialism, thicker<br />
harmony than before and puzzling rhythms and sonorities. I would<br />
suggest Vincent Persichetti and William Schuman as examples of this<br />
phenomenon but there are many more. What was their motivation? A<br />
desire to make peace with the style of friends and colleagues in more<br />
atonal styles? (All the more interesting as the listener is unlikely to<br />
find the actual expression peaceful) A sense of having missed certain<br />
of the emotional/spiritual ranges that are natural to those styles? A<br />
sense that they had made their statements in full already, and did not<br />
want to repeat themselves in their own “mainline” idiom? Or “I can<br />
play this game, too?”, or even “Anything you can do I can do better?”<br />
When I learned about serialism I had a mixed reaction, which I<br />
still, half a century later, not fully resolved. “It’s a GAME!” thought<br />
I, and indeed I still think so. Further “If I want to write music, I will<br />
write music; if I want to play a game, I will play bridge!” (And in fact,<br />
so I have, with many tournament championships to my credit). But<br />
12-note melodies get into many of my works, Concerto Grosso <strong>No</strong>. 2;<br />
the Concerto for Two Trumpets, Timpani, and <strong>String</strong>s; and several<br />
others. However, they do not get the serial treatment—the “matrix”<br />
and all the associated baggage.<br />
I composed five string quartets before reaching the age of 30, as well<br />
as a sextet. There were some revisions in the 1990s. I was very pleased<br />
with the quality and variety of these works, but the disadvantage to<br />
that was that for 30 years further, I could not find another quartet in<br />
my imagination. I ultimately decided to use an atmosphere similar<br />
to that of <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 4 (the darkest written thus far) and to<br />
make some usage of 12-tone idiom. Let me hasten to point out that<br />
the “row” material is well under 50% of the music (though more than<br />
in any of my other pieces) and I am still basically “<strong>Rosner</strong>” however<br />
one takes that.
<strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6 actually uses two 12-note permutations, presented<br />
at the outset by viola and cello—and either one will return here<br />
are there on any note: upside-down, backwards—the usual suspects.<br />
Of course, that lends certain melodic spin and unity to the work,<br />
one h<strong>op</strong>es. Other parts, and indeed harmonies, are free, and I think<br />
the real personality of the piece is in those aspects. One fingerprint<br />
in most of my compositions becomes very prominent here—I h<strong>op</strong>e<br />
not to excess. Three instruments play a serious of entirely consonant<br />
harmonies. They neither fit any one tonality on the one hand, or any<br />
pattern of either of the rows on the other. However a fourth instrument<br />
holds a single note (or perhaps two-note chord) almost like a<br />
bagpipe for those few harmonies, and the harmonic progression goes<br />
in and out of consonance and various degrees of dissonance with<br />
that drone. Also there are passages where two instruments move in<br />
identical rhythms (all 16ths, for example) starting on an <strong>op</strong>en fifth<br />
and moving by steps in <strong>op</strong>posite directions. Thus the alternate notes<br />
will be spaced at the 7th, creating brushing or clouding of the focus.<br />
Strangely I used this kind of texture in 1986 in From the Diaries of<br />
Adam Czerniakow where it has an eerie quality of impending doom,<br />
yet in quartet no. 6, I think almost identical music has a more mellowing<br />
or softening effect.<br />
The piece is in one rather uncompromising 11-minute movement.<br />
As consonant and dissonant sounds are used at will, and perhaps in<br />
combination, absolutely confident intonation is required; I do not<br />
believe that the music, however, is difficult in a “Paganini” sense of<br />
passage work, or even in intricacies of rhythm. When all this is clearly<br />
played, if I have succeeded, each hearer will take from it what he or<br />
she feels to be appr<strong>op</strong>riate—anything from a tragic darkness to a<br />
strangely arresting meditative state.<br />
— Arnold <strong>Rosner</strong>
6<br />
Violin I<br />
Adagio ( = c. 57)<br />
to Mattias Vanderwerf<br />
<strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6<br />
Arnold <strong>Rosner</strong><br />
Opus <strong>118</strong> (2004)<br />
Violin II<br />
Viola<br />
poco<br />
Violoncello<br />
5<br />
10<br />
poco<br />
C<strong>op</strong>yright © 2015 Zimbel Press. Exclusive publishing and administrative agent, www.zimbel.com.
7<br />
14<br />
sul G<br />
3<br />
3<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
3<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
18<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
22<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
8<br />
26<br />
3<br />
sub. 3<br />
sub.<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
(sub.)<br />
3<br />
29<br />
33<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
9<br />
36<br />
sub.<br />
sub.<br />
41<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
sost.<br />
3<br />
sost.<br />
3<br />
sost.<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
10<br />
45<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
48<br />
misterioso<br />
misterioso<br />
sul pont.<br />
sul pont.<br />
misterioso<br />
misterioso<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
11<br />
52<br />
3<br />
espr.<br />
ord.<br />
poco<br />
sul pont.<br />
ord., pizz.<br />
55<br />
3<br />
ord.<br />
3 3<br />
espr.<br />
arco<br />
pizz.<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
12<br />
59<br />
3<br />
arco<br />
62<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
65<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
13<br />
68<br />
marcato<br />
marcato 3<br />
marcato<br />
3<br />
marcato<br />
3<br />
71 3<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
74<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
14<br />
77<br />
!<br />
molto<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
!<br />
80<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
molto<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
15<br />
83<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
86<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
89 3 3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
16<br />
92 melodia<br />
non<br />
melodia<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
97 melodia<br />
sub.<br />
3<br />
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
17<br />
100 3 3 3 3<br />
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3<br />
3 3<br />
pizz.<br />
102<br />
3 3<br />
3 3<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
pizz.<br />
arco<br />
arco 3 3 3 3<br />
104<br />
3<br />
3 3 3 3 3 3<br />
3 3<br />
3 3<br />
3<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
18<br />
106<br />
3<br />
sul pont.<br />
3 3<br />
sul pont.<br />
3<br />
3 3<br />
pizz., sul D<br />
arco, sul G<br />
108<br />
3 3<br />
3 3<br />
110<br />
3 3<br />
(arco)<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
19<br />
113<br />
ord.<br />
ord.<br />
<strong>118</strong><br />
pizz. pesante<br />
122<br />
arco<br />
pizz. pesante<br />
arco<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
20<br />
126<br />
3 3 3<br />
pizz. pesante<br />
arco<br />
130<br />
cantabile<br />
3<br />
cantabile<br />
3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3<br />
132<br />
cantabile<br />
3<br />
cantabile<br />
3<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6
21<br />
135<br />
139<br />
3<br />
cant.<br />
143<br />
3<br />
pizz.<br />
pizz.<br />
(melodia)<br />
pizz.<br />
pizz<br />
ROSNER: <strong>String</strong> <strong>Quartet</strong> <strong>No</strong>. 6<br />
February 5, 2004