Op 91 - The 24 Wind Quintets of Antoine Reicha

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The Opus 67 Wind Quintets of Franz Danzi

Scores and Parts Created from the Early 19th-Century Sources
Charles-David Lehrer, General Editor

Opus 67 - No. 1

Franz Danzi: Quintet in G Major: Op. 67, No. 1
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon

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The parts used to create this new edition of Franz Danzi’s Trois Quintetti, Op. 67, were published by the house of Johann André in Offenbach am Main around the year 1824. They all carry the plate number 4751. These parts were provided in photocopy to the International Double Reed Society by the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in Munich. They originally belonged to the Bibliotheca Regia Monacensis. The frontispiece for each part is written in French, while the parts themselves maintain the Italian language. Metronome indications are provided for all movements.

The three quintets comprising the Op. 67 were composed in the following keys:

No. 1 in Sol majeur
No. 2 in Mi mineur
No. 3 in Mi b majeur

In Quintetto No. 1, Danzi specifies the A clarinet, while the hand horn is crooked in D throughout.

First Movement
Allegretto: dotted quarter note = 96 [80 is more realistic]

After a short in-tempo introduction, the sonata form proper gets underway with two contrasting themes and a set of tonicizing closing themes. The introduction and exposition repeat as a unit, after which an engaging development of motives taken from the introduction and exposition ensues. When the recapitulation is reached, Theme 1 is presented in the subdominant. This is followed by Theme 2 and its closing themes in the expected key of the tonic. A short coda brings this very sweet and charming movement to an end. In a word, Danzi’s construction here is exquisite, and his harmonic idiom is reminiscent of what will later become the musical language of Johannes Brahms.

The horn, crooked in D, has no key signature in this movement; therefore, the single flat for the key of F Major [sounding a minor 7th lower as G major] was written in as an accidental in the original part. The same is true for the minuetto and finale.

Second Movement
Andante con moto: eighth note = 100

Set in the dominant, D major, the slow movement is laid out in a most interesting sonata form. After an exposition of two contrasting themes [Themes 1 & 2] and the usual tonicizing closing material in the dominant, a transition based on Theme 1 leads to the recapitulation. Surprisingly, the latter begins with Theme 2 in a third relationship with the tonic, in this case a third below in Bb major. But Theme 2 has a modulating characteristic, and just as it moved from the tonic to the dominant in the exposition, it modulates from Bb major back to the tonic here in the recapitulation. Closing themes follow in the tonic, and these include fragments of Theme 1, but the complete version of the very solemn Theme 1 is never heard from again.

Third Movement
Minuetto. Allegretto: dotted half note = 66

The third movement is comprised of a miniature minuetto and trio. The minuetto proper is set in rounded binary form, while the trio, placed in the dominant, maintains pure binary form.

Fourth Movement
Allegretto moderato: half note = 76 [96 is better]

Set in sonata form without a development section, the finale is a fitting conclusion for this gentle work. As in the first movement, there are two contrasting themes and tonicizing closing material in both exposition and recapitulation. The transitional material placed between the two themes in the recapitulation is somewhat developmental. In addition, one hears a bit of Reicha here: Theme 1 is clearly influenced by folk music, while Theme 2 is of the ‘alma mater’ variety. Both ideas are found in Reicha’s Op. 99 which had been published two years before Danzi’s Op. 67.

An interesting aspect of the flute part in this movement, is the addition of articulation in what appears to be pencil!

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