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Quatrain for string quartet

for 2 violins, viola, violoncello

Duration - approximately 24 minutes

Program Notes:

The four movements of Quatrain originally appeared in whole or in part as movements in The Hercules Quartets, a collection of three string quartets that served as my Master’s Thesis. Although I was happy with the collection of work, over time I found that the size and scope of the composition made performances unlikely. I also was not satisfied with all the movements (especially the second quartet), and felt that the best work was scattered through the three quartets. This piece is a revision and re-imagining of the entire collection reduced to a smaller, single work. From the three quartets I chose the best material and went back through and cleaned it up. Some of the movements remain relatively unchanged, but some have substantial revisions.

Instead of keeping the original title, I thought with rebirth came the chance to rename the work. A quatrain is a short poem or a stanza of a larger poem that consists of four lines with some sort of rhyming scheme. I liked the idea of a quatrain because it had four lines to go with the four parts and the four movements of this string quartet, as well as for the obvious wordplay on “quart”. In order to connect with the title I wrote a quatrain that both connects to the original inspiration and serves as subtitles for each of the four movements.

The man-god chases beasts of penitence
Labors through pain to rinse caked blood away
His actions speak straight through his reticence
And rise and fall with Eurystheus’ sway

Enjoy.

Ryan Jesperson
3/22/2009

The second movement was read and recorded by Aaron Packard (vln), Sarah Washburn (vln), Russ Podgorsek (vla), and Katie Kennedy (vc), on Oct. 6th, 2006. An early version of the third movement was recorded by the West End String Quartet in December, 2006. The fourth movement was read and recorded by the Miami String Quartet in April, 2006.

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