MELIA WATRAS: CONTEMPLATION OF BEETHOVEN’S OP. 18, NO. 4
for string quartet (2020)
World Premiere: Avalon String Quartet: Blaise Magnière and Marie Wang, violin, Anthony Devroye, viola, Cheng-Hou Lee, cello; October 13, 2020, DeKalb, IL
Duration: 4:02
Program Notes:
To celebrate the 250th birthday of Beethoven, the Avalon String Quartet created Beethoven and Beyond, a series in which the quartet would perform the complete Beethoven string quartets over six concerts in the 2020-21 season. Each concert would begin with one of the Op. 18 quartets, paired with a newly commissioned companion piece, a bagatelle from a living composer. I am honored to have been asked by the Avalon to be one of the six composers to write for their Beethoven cycle. My work, Contemplation of Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 4, is the fourth bagatelle in their series.
Some 20 years earlier, I met the Avalon String Quartet at the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Seminar at Carnegie Hall. I was there with my ensemble, the Corigliano Quartet, and we bonded with the Avalon, as two of the selected young chamber groups given the extraordinary opportunity to work with legendary Isaac Stern and numerous other music luminaries, and to perform Beethoven in Carnegie Hall (the Avalon performed Op. 74, and the Corigliano Op. 132). I am delighted to get to work with them again, and how fun that is in the context of Beethoven string quartets!
In my composition, pitch and harmonic material is derived from Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 4. In contrast to this quartet, which has no slow movement, my Contemplation is generally quiet and slow, as it travels through fields of color.
This piece is dedicated with many thanks to the incredible Avalon String Quartet—Blaise Magnière, Marie Wang, Anthony Devroye and Cheng-You Lee—for their artistry and friendship.
—Melia Watras