Chamber music
- For other uses, see Chamber music (disambiguation).
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any "art music" that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part. The word "chamber" signifies that the music can be performed in a small room, often with an intimate atmosphere. However, it usually does not include, by definition, solo instrument performances.
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Resources
Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music, edited by Walter Willson Cobbett in 1923, and updated and reprinted in 1963, is a comprehensive guide to chamber music compositions and composers up to that time.
Sir Donald Francis Tovey, British pianist and musicologist, wrote many insightful essays on the subject of chamber music, some of them available in the volume of his Essays in Musical Analysis that he devotes to it.
Performance
Many classical musicians enjoy playing chamber music. In most cases, chamber music is performed without a conductor, so each performer has greater artistic freedom. For organizing a performance, the expense is lower and the logistics simpler than that for even a modest orchestra. While the repertoire is not suitable for beginners, there are pieces within the technical and artistic capabilities of most serious amateurs.
Music lovers and 250 renowned musicians travel far and wide each summer to attend the world’s largest chamber music festival. The Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival presents over 100 concerts using an affordable pass system. Discover more at www.chamberfest.com.
Ensembles
This is a partial list of the types of ensembles found in chamber music.
| Number of Musicians | Name | Common Ensembles | Instrumentation | Comments |
| 2 | Duo | Piano Duo | 2 piano | |
| Instrumental Duo | any instrument and piano | Found especially as instrumental sonatas; i.e., violin, cello, viola, horn, bassoon, clarinet, flute sonatas). | ||
| any instrument and basso continuo | Common in baroque music predating the piano. The basso continuo part is always present to provide rhythm and accompaniment, and is often played by a harpsichord but other instruments can also be used. | |||
| Duet | Piano Duet | 1 pno, 4 hands | ||
| Vocal Duet | voice, pno | Commonly used in the art song, or Lieder. | ||
| Instrumental Duet | 2 of any instrument | |||
| 3 | Trio | String Trio | vln, vla, vc | |
| Piano Trio | vln, vc, pno | |||
| Voice, Viola and Piano | sop, vla, pno | William Bolcolm's trio Let Evening Come for Soprano, Viola and Piano, and Johannes Brahms' Zwei Gesänge für eine Altstimme mit Bratsche und Pianoforte, Op. 91, for Alto, Viola and Piano | ||
| Clarinet, Viola and Piano | cl, vla, pno | Mozart's trio K498, other works by Robert Schumann and Max Bruch | ||
| Voice, Clarinet and Piano | voice, cl, pno | Franz Schubert's Der Hirt auf dem Felsen, D965 and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Schon Lacht Der Holde Fruhling, KV 580 | ||
| Flute, Viola and Harp | fl, vla, hrp | Famous works by Debussy and Arnold Bax | ||
| Clarinet, Violin, Piano | cl, vln, pno | Largely a 20th century invention, but growing in popularity; famous compositions by Béla Bartók, Milhaud and Khachaturian | ||
| Horn Trio | hrn, cl, pno | 19th century works; specifically the Trio in Eb Op. 40 by Brahms | ||
| Soprano, Horn and Piano | sop, hrn, pno | Franz Schubert's Auf Dem Strom | ||
| 4 | Quartet | String Quartet | 2 vln, vla, vc | Very popular form. Numerous major examples by Mozart, Beethoven and many other leading composers (see article). |
| Piano Quartet | vln, vla, vc, pno | |||
| Violin, Clarinet, Cello and Piano | vln, cl, vc, pno | Rare; famous example: Messiaen's Quatuor pour la fin du temps; less famous: Hindemith (1938), Walter Rabl (Op. 1; 1896). | ||
| Saxophone Quartet | s. sax, a. sax, t. sax, b. sax | |||
| 5 | Quintet | Piano Quintet | 2 vln, vla, vc, pno | |
| vln, vla, vc, cb, pno | An uncommon instrumentation used by Franz Schubert in his Trout Quintet. | |||
| Woodwind Quintet | fl, cl, ob, bsn, hrn | |||
| String Quintet | 2 vln, vla, vc with additional vla or vc | |||
| Brass Quintet | 2 tr, 1 trm, 1, tuba, 1 hrn | |||
| 6 | Sextet | String Sextet | 2 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc | Important among these are Brahms' Op. 18 and Op. 36 Sextets. |
| Piano Sextet | 2 vln, vla, vc, cb, pno | |||
| Piano and Wind Quintet | fl, ob, cl, bsn, hrn, pno | Such as the Poulenc Sextet. | ||
| cl, 2 vln, vla, vc, pno | An example is Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes Op. 34. | |||
| 7 | Septet | cl, hrn, bsn, vln, vla, vc, cb | Popularized by Beethoven's Septet Op. 20. | |
| 8 | Octet | cl, hrn, bsn, 2 vln, vla, vc, cb | Popularized by Schubert's Octet D. 803, inspired by Beethoven's Septet. | |
| String Octet | 4 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc | Popularized by Mendelssohn's String Octet Op. 20. | ||
| Double Quartet | 4 vln, 2 vla, 2 vc | Two string quartets arranged antiphonically. | ||
| Wind Octet | 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 hrn, 2 bsn | |||
| 9 | Nonet | |||
| Key: vln - violin; vla - viola; vc - cello; cb - double bass; pno - piano; fl - flute; ob - oboe; cl - clarinet; s. sax - soprano saxophone; a. sax - alto saxophone; t. sax - tenor saxophone; b. sax - baritone saxophone; bsn - bassoon; hrn - horn; tr - trumpet; trm - trombone | ||||
The standard repertoire for chamber ensembles is rich, and the totality of chamber music in print in sheet music form is nearly boundless. See the articles on each instrument combination for examples of repertoire.
References
External links
- The Ottawa Chamber Music Society one of the world's leading international chamber music festivals.
- The Amateur Chamber Music Players publishes a contact list of musicians worldwide who play chamber music for their own enjoyment. They also publish lists of repertoire.
- http://www.composerplanet.com/cgi-bin/wiki.cgi?ChamberMusic
- Art of the States: Chamber/small chamber music (3-8 instruments) by American composers
- Art of the States: Chamber/large chamber music (9+ instruments) by American composers
Categories
Chamber music | Musical groups