FROM CHOIR TO STRING QUARTET – SOUND METAMORPHOSES IN THE COMPOSITION OF THE WORK “OPT BAGATELE PENTRU CVARTET DE COARDE” BY ADRIAN POP

Abstract

Among the three string quartets of the Cluj composer, we have chosen to focus on the opus Opt bagatele pentru cvartet de coarde
[Eight bagatelles for string quartet] (1996), awarded with the “George Enescu” Prize of the Romanian Academy, and whose ideational, thematic, and dramatic ground is a previous choral cycle of the author, Galgenlieder-Bagatellen (1987), lyrics from Galgenlieder / Gallows Songs by Christian Morgenstern (1905). Notwithstanding the inherent differences between
the instrumental and vocal versions, the musical attitudes preserve the predilection and appetence for the vocal composition that Adrian Pop holds so dear, including through the use of certain vocal phonemes, the chromatics of the chordophones in the third bagatelle. The instrumental and chromatic refinement of the eight bagatelles confirms the essential role they play in the creation of one of the most important contemporary composers of Cluj and Romania.