#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalSextet Week 4
June is the sixth month. It seemed a good time to make sextets the #ClassicsaDay monthly theme. The most common sextet is a doubled string trio. That is, two violins, two violas, and two cellos. But other combinations of instruments are possible. And beginning in the 20th Century just about every type of combination has been explored.
Here are my social media posts for the fourth and final week of #ClassicalSextets.
06/24/24 Leoš Janáček: Mládí (Youth)
Janacek was inspired by a performance of Rouseel’s Divertimento for Wind Quintet and Piano. Janacek’s sextet was written for flute, oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and bass clarinet. It premiered in 1924.
06/25/24 Felix Mendelssohn: Piano Sextet in D Major, Op. 110
Mendelssohn wrote this work for piano and strings at age 15. The lineup includes 1 violin, 2 violas, cello, and double bass. It wasn’t published until 1868, almost 20 years after Mendelssohn’s death.
06/27/24 Ernő Dohnányi: Sextet in C Major, Op. 37
Dohnányi wrote this work while he was bedridden with thrombosis. It was written in early 1935 for piano, violin, viola, clarinet, and horn. The sextet premiered in June of that year.
06/28/24 Arnold Bax Sextet: In Memoriam for English Horn, Harp and String Quartet
Bax wrote his sextet immediately following the Easter Rising of 1916. Among Bax’s friends was Patrick Pearse. Pearse was executed for his role in the rising, and Bax’s work was written to his memory.
06/29/24 Alexander Borodin: String Sextet in D minor
Borodin wrote this work in 1860. He studied chemistry by day and relaxed with student chamber music soirees. This work may have been written for one of those evenings. Only the first two movements survive.
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