WINGATE: STRING QUARTET NO. 1 
“Three Dodecaphonic Meditations for String Quartet”

Movements:
I. On the Unity of Opposites (Primes)
II. On Dirges for the Living (Inversions and Retrogrades)
III. On the Struggle of the Soul to Free Itself from Matter (Retrograde Inversions)

Date:
2020

Duration:
16'

Notes:
The Three Dodecaphonic Meditations of Wingate’s First String Quartet represent an attempt to reconcile the quantifiable with the expressive, the serial with the tonal. Technically, one might describe the piece as a sequence of 576 pitch events representing the 48 possible rows in matrix order, divided into movements based on the set forms. But this theoretician’s account belies the unexpected richness of the result. These philosophical essays in musical guise pare away some of the cherished conventions of the inherited string quartet tradition, to let what remains speak penetratingly through unornamented forms.
 
The composer set himself many rules and limitations in the construction of the piece. For example, to give pitch an unusual prominence in the proceedings, the first movement becomes an experiment in complete absence of rhythmic and dynamic variety, with relentless mezzoforte whole notes leaving almost nothing left in the piece but pitch. This also occurs in the third movement, but the rhythm now expands slightly into a compound structure, albeit similarly unvaried. The central second movement limits the instruments to sound only in alternating pairs, using two sections of homogeneous rhythmic structures in brief contrast. The whole piece obeys the strict ordering of the 574 predetermined pitches, but somehow escapes the confines of its austere architectures.

The quartet’s movement titles come from some of the composer’s favorite philosophical musings during his formative years, the third being a loose quotation from the art historian Kenneth Clark concerning Michelangelo. Using the same tone row as the Metaphysical Monologue No. 2 for viola but here employing it to build imposing walls of sound, the piece achieves its objective thanks to the tone-sustaining powers of the string choir, whose pitch can continue indefinitely with only slight interruption at the bow-changes. And while all four players must work at this with equal diligence, it is the viola which takes a leading role to both begin and end all the movements, save for the final utterance of the piece, which it graciously concedes to the first violin.