String Quartet in D major, Op. 20, no. 4
(III. Allegretto alla zingarese)
Listening Guide
Embedded Files
Listen on YouTube to the third movment
Badke Quartet: Lana Trotovsek, Emma Parker - violins, Jon Thorne - viola, Jonny Byers - cello
Composer: Haydn
Composition: String Quartet in D major, op. 20, no. 4 (III. Allegretto alla zingarese)
Date: 1772
Genre: string quartet
Form: III. Allegretto alla zingarese uses the form of a minuet and trio, that is, Minuet (A) Trio (B) Minuet (A).
Performing Forces: String quartet, i.e., two violins, one viola, one cello
What we want you to remember about this composition:
- It is in triple time and a moderate tempo, like most minuets
- The music for the repeat of the minuet is not written out; instead, Haydn writes "da capo" at the end of the Trio
- Instead of sounding like a stately minuet, it sounds more like a lively Hungarian dance
Other things to listen for
- It hardly sounds like triple meter, because Haydn writes accents on beats two and three instead of mainly on beat one
Timing
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Form:
Form:
Lots of unexpected accents on beats two and three of the triple time meter; homophonic texture: the first violin gets the solo and the other voices accompany; in D major
MINUET: A
Accents back on the first beat of each measure (that is, of each measure of the triple meter); homophonic texture: the cello gets the solo and the other voices accompany; still in D major
TRIO: Cc
Similar to c; note the drone pitches in the 2nd violin and viola accompaniment at the beginning of the phrase
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