Three Sententiae for String Trio Op. 325

This is my "Three Sententiae for String Trio Op. 325". It is my 2nd set of sententiae for the ensemble of string trio.

Here is the link to my previous set of sententiae for string trio:

Not a bad concept at all. I'm kind of intrigued by the idea of 'sententiae'. Is there a formal structure that you are going for with this? The first seems to be binary form in nature. Or are these through composed structures? In other words, how would you further describe and expand upon this type of form? 

I might try my hand at this form! 

Thanks jawoodruff for your opinion on the sententiae. There is no specific form that I am deliberately attempting to follow in composing sententiae. I guess the overriding principle is the brevity of the movement and the lack of development. Many of them could be through-composed, because in this type of composition, one doesn't have a a lot of space-time to repeat ideas. I do not give too much importance to the form. In fact, the form or concept of the sententia was born from a fragment I had composed for string quartet and didn't know how to continue with it. It was great as it was. And so, I thought of the new form of the sententia. That was the first sententia of a group of three. And I have composed many more after that.

It would be interesting how another composer would interpret the sententia form. And so I would be very interested to hear any examples you might compose. Just make sure that they are not long. Most of mine are between 30 and 45 seconds. And you can feel free about the form.

In case you did not read my description on the title page of the score, I am quoting below the description of the sententia as I see it, a description that I usually provide on the title page of any set of sententiae that I post, and that I try to update and edit from time to time, as the concept evolves and develops.

"The 'sententia' is a musical form I originated in 2013. The word 'sententia' (plural: 'sententiae') is the Latin for the word 'sentence'. The Oxford dictionary defines 'sententia' as "A pithy or memorable saying, a maxim, an aphorism, an epigram; a thought, a reflection." For me a 'sententia' is a musical utterance of a thought that is complete in itself, like a sentence. It is also an utterance that finds no need for any elaboration or development. Hence my sententiae are short pieces that come in sets and are often related to each other in some way. Just like between the movements of a multi-movement piece, I would expect that performers observe a short pause between one sententia and the next. And I would expect that there be no clapping from audiences."

I love the fact that you coming with ideas for forms.  This is very similar to some of the short studies I had in the style of Bartok.  I think since they are so short, you might need to make several "paragraphs" to give it more depth.  As always, great work!

32 minutes ago, maestrowick said:

I love the fact that you coming with ideas for forms.  This is very similar to some of the short studies I had in the style of Bartok.  I think since they are so short, you might need to make several "paragraphs" to give it more depth.  As always, great work!

 

Thanks maestrowick for your review and your appreciation of the form of the sententia. Nice to hear about your short studies in the style of Bartok. As for the idea for "paragraphs", I guess that the traditional forms of music are already "paragraphs" and more!

56 minutes ago, maestrowick said:

I love the fact that you coming with ideas for forms.  This is very similar to some of the short studies I had in the style of Bartok.  I think since they are so short, you might need to make several "paragraphs" to give it more depth.  As always, great work!

 

I have to agree with the comments of maestrowick. Developing and continuing to utilize newly devised or revised forms is a noteworthy task for any composer -and one that signifies a deep devotion to the tradition from which we -as composers- subscribe to (no matter how modern we are). I also think it's good for composers to also pull from the work of our own peers in terms of form development and revitalization. It helps connect us closer together in terms of our musical epoch. Awesome work here guys!