The Quartet for Piano and Strings in B-flat, Op. 41, which we will hear tomorrow night, is in four movements, and it’s one of the great warhorses and crowd pleasers in the repertory.
The first movement , marked allegretto, meaning a slower pace than merely quick, is in sonata format, and the first subject in B-flat is breathtaking.
At 2:00, the second subject in F is just as beautiful.
At 3:00, development begins, and it sidles nicely between the major and minor modes.
At 5:00, the recap begins in a re-composed format, much like Brahms. As he works this theme up again, it even sounds like Brahms. Jo’s music had a lot of influence, even in France.
At 6:00, the second subject appears in the correct key of B-flat and sounds even more Brahmsian.
At 7:00, the coda winds it down and resolves the movement peacefully.
The second movement in G minor, marked andante maestoso ma con moto, which means “a majestic walking pace but keep it moving”, is a toccata and fugue, which points all the way back to Bach. Camille knew his Baroque music.
The third movement in D minor, marked poco allegro piu tosta moderato, is a rather nebulous “somewhat quick but a bit on the moderate side”. Rather than use scherzo format for his dance movement in 6/8, Camille opts for the more repetitive rondo format. He wraps it up quietly and prestissimo, which means “like a bat out of hell.”
Camille liked using a cyclic format, in which themes from previous movements find their places in the finale. This allegro (quick) movement, which starts in G minor, is written on a grand scale and is somewhat free-form. At 28:45 he executes a grand summation in B-flat where the themes from the first, second, third and fourth movements are layered over each other and worked up as a fugue. Make sure your seatbelts are fastened for the last two minutes!
Sacre Bleu!