Elegy

for String Orchestra

Peter Schickele (composer)

Instrumentation

  • Violin 1
  • Violin 2
  • Viola
  • Violoncello
  • Contrabass
Score and Parts
Available on Rental
Rental
SKU
116-41374
The subtitle of my second string quartet is ?In Memoriam?; it is dedicated to the memory of a dissident Soviet writer who, after emigrating to the United States, married my wife?s sister. The second movement of the quartet reflects, in my mind, Kiril Uspensky?s sense of humor, which was sometimes a bit wicked if not downright demonic, and the last movement seems to me to have that peculiar combination of dark resignation and passionate affirmation that I associate with Kiril and other Russians I have known or know about. The quartet was completed in 1987, and after hearing a performance of it in 1991, my brother David suggested that I arrange the last movement for string orchestra, as Samuel Barber did with the slow movement of his string quartet to create the Adagio for Strings. I have transcribed the piece as simply as possible, leaving the upper parts unchanged and simply integrating the string basses into the texture. The first performances of the string orchestra version took place at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY, on May 1, 1992, and Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, on May 2; the Hudson Valley Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra was conducted by Leon Botstein.
SKU: 116-41374
Ensemble: String Orchestra
Duration: 8:00
Publisher: Elkan-Vogel, Inc.
Delivery Method: Print
Product Type: Score and Parts
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