Saxophone quartet

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Python Saxophone Quartet in 2008 with standard SATB configuration
The Spiral Saxophone Quartet in 2013 with SATB saxophones.

A saxophone quartet is a musical ensemble composed of four saxophones, typically soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones. Different saxophone family members are employed to provide a larger range and a variety of tone colours. Other arrangements of instruments also exist, but are rarer. A piece of music composed for such an ensemble can also itself be referred to as a saxophone quartet.

History

The saxophone was developed in 1840 by

Jean-Baptiste Singelee had written works for four saxophones in the 19th century. These included Allegro de concert (AATB), Quatuor en 4 Parties (SATB), and Grand Quatuor Concertant en 3 Parties (SATB). In 1878, the Gilmour Band featured a quartet of saxophones which included Edouard Lefèbre, a soloist in the band. Lefèbre went on to form his own saxophone quartet in 1905 with a repertoire of transcriptions.[1]

The main impetus for the recognition of this ensemble was by

Paris Conservatoire
after Adolphe Sax himself. In 1928, he founded Le Quatuor de la Musique de la Garde Républicaine, later known as Le Quatuor de saxophones de Paris, and then the Marcel Mule Quartet. The founding members were:

  • Marcel Mule on soprano
  • René Chaligné on alto
  • Hippolyte Poimboeuf on tenor
  • Georges Chauvet on baritone

Subsequent members included:

  • Paul Romby
  • Fernande L’homme
  • Georges Charron
  • Marcel Josse
  • André Bauchy
  • Georges Gourdet
  • Guy Lacour

Many works for saxophone quartet that are now considered part of the standard repertoire were written for this ensemble. Mule himself also arranged works for this group.[1]

Eugene Bozza, Philip Glass, Juan María Solare, and others. Since the 1970s jazz quartets have started to emerge as well, broadening the scope of the ensemble and the idiom of the repertoire.[1]

Current Forms

The Deep Schrott bass-saxophone quartet

Saxophone quartets abound as amateur and professional ensembles as well as university-affiliated groups.[2] The most recent World Saxophone Congress, in 2015, hosted a competition specifically for saxophone quartets with a first prize of 4000 euros and a recital,[3] won by Keuris Saxophone Quartet.[4] Saxophone quartets also compete in, and have won, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, which is the world's largest classical chamber music competition.

While SATB remains the most common classical configuration, occasionally the soprano is replaced by another alto leading to an AATB configuration particularly in jazz and contemporary ensembles. Other configurations do exist, notably the Four Baritones Quartet (BBBB)[5] and Deep Schrott (BassBassBassBass)[6] but are much rarer.

Repertoire

Notable quartets

References

  1. ^ .
  2. ^ https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/bender_rhett_l_200012_dma.pdf (page 2)
  3. ^ "Saxophone quartet competition | SaxOpen". www.saxopen.com. Archived from the original on 2014-07-13.
  4. ^ "Keuris Quartet". keurisquartet. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  5. ^ "FOUR BARITONES". Niels Bijl. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  6. ^ "Deep Schrott, the only bass saxophone quartet in the universe". www.deepschrott.de. Retrieved 2023-02-20.
  7. ^ "Budapest Saxophone Quartet". www.bsq.hu. Retrieved 25 March 2022.

See also