Description

Another quartet emerged after the “Season Quartets” as a sort of farewell to the genre, and indicating the composer’s gradual goodbye to composing. The material of the Epilogue quartet is therefore full of symbolism.

The rather desperate introduction begins with the famous chords of the Renaissance master Gesualdo’s Moro lasso madrigal, including all 12 notes of the chromatic scale. The following passage is a “heavenly” response. The pizzicato scales of the cello traverse all the keys in the circle of fifths, and a polyphonic texture builds above them, based on the Gregorian melody Tollite iugum meum. Blended in are echoes from Oskar Lindberg’s funeral melody Gammal fäbodpsalm från Dalarna.

The third passage returns to the initial themes via the Gesualdo chords, now presented in a more serene light. The music of the quartet fades away with echoes from the folk hymn.

The composer wrote the Epilogue quartet purposely for his own funeral.

Instrumentation

2vln, vla, vlc

Category

Chamber Works

Opus no.

op. 131

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