Officium breve in memorian Andreae Szervánsky Op.28 (1988-89)

1 Largo – 2 Più andante – 3 Sostenuto quasi giusto – 4 Grave, molto sostenuto –

5 Presto – 6 Molto agitato – 7 Sehr fliessend – 8 Lento - 9 Largo – 10 Sehr fliessend – Listesso tempo – Sehr fliessend – 11 Sostenuto – 12 Sostenuto quasi giusto – 13 Sostenuto con slancio 14 Disperato, vivo – Arioso interrotto (di Endre Szervánsky) Larghetto

Much of György Kurtág’s music takes the form of memorials or tributes. Many musicians, from Robert Schumann to Nancy Sinatra, have been honoured in this way but perhaps none more movingly than Kurtág’s Hungarian composer colleague Endre Szervánsky for whom he wrote what he called a “Mini-Requiem” in his third string quartet, Officium breve in memorian Andreae Szervánsky. Other colleagues are also commemorated in this work which is at the same time a tribute to Anton Webern, whose music – not least its canonic form and its structural brevity – was a revelation to Kurtág at a formative stage in his development. The short fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth movements all allude to Webern, while the third, twelfth and fifteenth are devoted in one way or another to Szervánsky, the last of them quoting directly a passage in plain C major from the third movement of his Serenade for Strings.

1 Largo – 2 Più andante – 3 Sostenuto quasi giusto – 4 Grave, molto sostenuto –

5 Presto – 6 Molto agitato – 7 Sehr fliessend – 8 Lento - 9 Largo – 10 Sehr fliessend – Listesso tempo – Sehr fliessend – 11 Sostenuto – 12 Sostenuto quasi giusto – 13 Sostenuto con slancio 14 Disperato, vivo – Arioso interrotto (di Endre Szervánsky) Larghetto

Much of György Kurtág’s music takes the form of memorials or tributes. Many musicians, from Robert Schumann to Nancy Sinatra, have been honoured in this way but perhaps none more movingly than Kurtág’s Hungarian composer colleague and compatriot Endre Szervánsky for whom he wrote what he called a “Mini-Requiem” in his third string quartet, Officium breve in memorian Andreae Szervánsky. Other colleagues are also commemorated in this work which is at the same time a tribute to Anton Webern, whose music – not least its canonic form and its structural brevity – was a revelation to Kurtág at a formative stage in his development. The short fifth, sixth, seventh and tenth movements all allude to Webern, while the third, twelfth and fifteenth are devoted in one way or another to Szervánsky, the last of them quoting directly a passage in plain C major from the third movement of his Serenade for Strings.