John Woolrich Sestina (1997)

For piano quartet

12 minutes

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I borrowed the title of this Piano Quartet from Monteverdi's great Madrigal Sequence of 1610:  Lagrime D'Amante al Sepolcro dell'Amata.  There are six main sections, behind each of which hovers the ghost of another piece - songs by Debussy, Schubert and Beethoven, a piano piece by Schumann, a little Stravinsky, and finally and most openly, a fragment of Monteverdi's own Sestina.  The work ends with a gentle lullaby.

 

© John Woolrich

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Sestina was commissioned by the Schubert Ensemble with funds provided by the Schubert Ensemble Trust and first performed at the Lichfield Festival on Wednesday 9th July 1997.

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