StringQuartetNO.ofGeorgeWhitefieldChadwick

George Whitefield Chadwick （1854-1931）， born in Massachusetts， was a leading figure of the Second School of New England composers. Highly regarded in his lifetime as a composer， he was also largely responsible for the effective reorganization of the New England Conservatory and was one of the most influential teachers in American music. During the time when he directed the New England Conservatory， he composed a bunch of outstanding American pieces which made him remarkable in history. In this paper， I would like to examine his String Quartet No.4 to figure out the reason that he has been recognized as a “Yankee composer”， and how his composing features are embodied in this piece. Through the analysis of the composition itself， we can realize his aesthetic attitude of the American music style that is rooted in European genres in order to express American sensibility.

Chadwicks String Quartet No.4 premiere was in 1896， just after Antonio Dvoraks String Quartet in F Ops.96. Both of their first performances were done by the same ensemble： the Kneisel String Quartet in Boston. It is said that Dvoraks work “seems to have directly inspired Chadwicks Fourth Quartet”. Is there a connection that exists between these two pieces or not？ I think we need to turn our attention outside of the music to the historical and social background.

“Several of the Boston composers were also skilled performers， chiefly pianists or organists， and their compositions were heard regularly in Boston on the programs of such local ensembles as the Boston Symphony Orchestra （founded in 1881）， the Kneisel String Quartet， and the Handel and Haydn Society.” The one institute I want to point out is the Kneisel String Quartet， which played both of Chadwick and Dvoraks string quartets. Besides regular performances in Boston， it is involved in university activities actively， at the celebration of the formal opening of the Rice Institute， the Kneisel Quartet rendered the programs. Other than that， in 1905， Kneisel and his fellow quartet members joined the faculty of the Institute of Musical Art， Juilliard's predecessor institution. It is an active ensemble of promoting advanced American classical music era.

When Chadwick composed the String Quartet NO.4， he was a faculty in the New England Conservatory （NEC）， and became a director later in 1897. This occupation is more than just a composition/organ/piano teacher. Through the civil war （1861-1865）， people in America， especially the middle-class turned their attention to develop their country through changing their daily life. In the cultural area they were pursuing a new identification since there was a new U.S.A. In Boston， one of the centers of American classical music， new institutions like the New England Conservatory （NEC） allowed Americans to study classical music in their own country. The NEC was founded in 1867 as the first independent music school in this country. Moreover， NEC is the only music school in the United States designated as a National Historic Landmark. I assume that the establishment of NEC was a sign for Americans that they could learn the advancing music skills in their hometown instead of having to go abroad （Europe） to study. In my view， it has inspired the American composers to search for their way to write music.endprint

When we make a comparison with a similar example in China， we can see this tendency more clearly. China Conservatory of Music was founded in 1964， in Beijing， a capital of Peoples Republic China. It is a university capitalized on the study of Chinese traditional music and education， established by Zhou Enlai（PRCs premier since 1949）， aimed to cultivate specialists of Chinese traditional music performers， composers， musicologists， and theorists. At that time， China had just gone through the Great Chinese Famine（1958-1961）， which was caused by the Great Leap Forward Movement， an extreme policy that was made by the government. So the government started to adjust their guiding principle， by putting more effort to rouse the patriotism of the residents which made them regain the confidence of life. Emphasizing tradition is one of the governments methods. Although the NEC was not founded in this purpose exactly， it still meets the public and governments demands in history.

Three decades after the birth of New England Conservatory， in the late 1800s in and around Boston the first real groups of American composers， called The Second England School， were inspired by the Boston musical phenomenon and the native psalmodists or the Moravians. Besides George W. Chadwick， among those who deserve to be remembered are John Knowles Paine， Arthur Foote， Horatio Parker， and Amy Cheney Beach. They shared a good mood of the classical music at New York， Boston and Philadelphia， since they were settled in different cities， not only the music composition but also sharing the aesthetic attitude. A 1907 article by Chadwick portrays a community of equals who had fashioned a working environment of “mutual respect and honest criticism.” The topic of controversy is whether or not using the so-called Black music melody in their composition as a typical element to launching the American music is reasonable. There are various answers for this debate.

In terms to Chadwick， he gave us his personal point through this String Quartet NO.4. It is said that his character of music included Anglo-American rhythm of Psalmody， Afro-Caribbean dance syncopations， pentatonic melody， parallel voice-leading （4th，5th）， and catchy tones which typically are in the 3rd movement of string quartet fiddle line. In short， there are two major parts of his features： traditional harmony processing and folk elements.

As a composer， Chadwick has studied in Leipzig Conservatory in 1877-79， and in Munich with Josef Rheinberger 1879-80， that was a totally German musical experience， so mutual skill of his mutual composition was undoubted. Lets see the Afro-Caribbean dance syncopations in his music. There is no existed definition of this rhythm， but we can feel it through the recording on YouTube https：//www.youtube.com/watch？v=a6JEyAyb8us with reading the following score which is cut from the third movements of the first violin section of Chadwick String Quartet No.4.endprint

Also， there is a separated part recording of the third movement in YouTube https：//www.youtube.com/watch？v=Z6PktUP7tI8

On the other side， the first statement of motive sentence above （1-12bar） is a typical pentatonic melody， there are only C， D， E， G， and A， no F and B. The usage of a gapped scale， in which some adjacent pitches are separated by a minor third， is common to nearly all Indian songs.

“Not only the music， a people or nation or culture but also that of a period， a school of composers， a genre a composer are dealt with as if they were systems somewhat analogous to language.”In Boston， there is not only a NEC， but also Boston Symphony Orchestra which is one of the five best symphony orchestras. New York Philharmonic Orchestra is another one， which is located in another city with flourishing classical music. In New York City， there is a National Conservatory， which has been directed by Antonio Dvorak in 1982-1985. His NO.9 symphony（From the New World） was composed in that period to show how composers might proceed his musical attitude-—“negro melodies”the“real foundation of any serious and original school of composition to be developed in United States”（Quoted in the New York Herald， May 21， 1893）. Here， I assumed that his following compositions， at least composed in America， were sharing this idea.

Besides rhythm and pentatonic scale， which came from black music that is shown in Chadwicks piece， there is also the usage of one common motive between the String Quartet NO.4 and Antonio Dvoraks cello concerto in B Minor which implicates Chadwick was standing on the side of Dvoraks opinion.

I analyzed this piece based on the online resources， which included the recording that came from the YouTube https：//www.youtube.com/watch？v=B4mkzId1l_w and the scores from www.imslp.com.

00：06， at the beginning of this pieces first movement， fiddles play the first motive， and the cello shows the second motive （a hidden motive）. The second motive has only four notes， the first and the last one are the same； it steps up to the third which is also the highest note then leaps down to the original position. This is shown in the following score 1.

This motive has appeared many times through the whole first movements， 00：28， 1：07（first violin） 1：35（imitation， motive developed to different section soon）， 2：47（in 1st violin line）， under the first violins melody play the major motive， the other sections play the hidden motive in a developed way， which we also can listen to as the motive starts from a note and goes to the climax by passing through several notes within the third interval and then comes back to the origin note. 4：11（all play together）， 4：30 （play three times then transfer to other）， 4：55，around the 6：00（all the parts of the string quartet， they continually play this motive one by one to push the whole piece into a more intense emotion， and repeat that again at 6：10 around then to connect to a unison section， at the last part of the 1st movement， the motive has been played several times on cello to accompany the fiddles first motive and then goes to the cadence together.endprint

Antonio Dvoraks cello concerto in B Minor may have been composed in 1894 or 1895 （it has been revised several times by the soloist before the premiere）. The second motive of Chadwicks piece adopted this ones first motive， which dominates the whole piece. This four-notes motive is presented at the first sentence of the first movements by the clarinet， we can see in score 2 below， and was developed at the following sentence by the flute and oboe section.

Also， the first sentence which the cello soloist plays is this motive. See score 3 below.

Furthermore， it is said that Chadwicks third symphony was awarded a prize by the National Conservatory of Music， during the directorship of Dvo?ák， a composer with whom Chadwick shared a remarkable similarity of musical outlook， which supported above score analysis results.

In conclusion， as a pioneer American composer， G. W. Chadwicks String Quartet NO.4 not only represents his own musical style and academic experience but also embodies the musical societys influence in that era through premiere ensemble， the background of Chadwicks education and employer. Last but not least， the connection between this piece and Dvoraks Cello concerto states his reception of the American music development controversy. It is a milestone in American musical history， which presented the possibility to make a good tone by using European composing skills while being rooted in American spirit. This laid a solid support for G. W. Chadwick becoming the “Yankee Composer” in public review.

作者簡介：龙令千（1993.6-），女，2015年于华中师范大学音乐学院获得学士学位，之后赴美国亚利桑那大学音乐学院，学习民族音乐学专业，2017年毕业。2016年1月在美国音乐教育协会，西南地区年会中的展示板块演讲论文：《学习音乐在中文课堂上的帮助》，2017年2月在匹兹堡大学举办的“机构力量与音乐”主题音乐学年会上演讲论文《论武汉汉剧如何在现代中国的事业单位体制中得以发展》。endprint