#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalSextet Week 1
By Ralph Graves
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 first week of #ClassicalSextets.
06/03/24 Johannes Brahms: Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, Op. 18
Before Brahms, the string sextet was a rarity. After Brahms, several composers of the 19th and 20th Centuries explored the genre. Brahms’ first sextet was published in 1862.
06/04/24 Johannes Brahmns: Sextet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 36
Brahms’ second string sextet was published in 1865. It received its world premiere in Boston in October 1866. Europe would have to wait another month for the continental premiere.
06/05/24 Luigi Boccherini: String Sextet in E-flat major, G 454 Op. 23
Boccherini is credited with writing the first string sextets. This is one of six sextets Boccherini wrote in 1776 as his Op. 23 (published in 1780).
06/06/24 Arnold Schoenberg: Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), Op. 4
Schoenberg arranged this work for string orchestra. That’s the version most frequently performed today. The original sextet premiered in 1902, the string orchestra version in 1924.
06/07/24 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: Souvenir de Florence, Op. 70
Tchaikovsky sketched the main themes for this work while he was visiting Florence. He completed the composition in 1890. After revision, it was premiered in 1892.
