Description
A fascinating and inventive quintet for strings by the legendary 19th century virtuoso bassist and composer Domenico Dragonetti. Quintet No. 18 employs a variety of style topics familiar to early nineteenth-century audiences. The opening Andante has a pastoral character, gracious and inviting, and serves as an introduction to the extended second movement (Allegretto non troppo), which is cast in a rondo form. The recurring opening theme of the rondo, reminiscent of an Alpine call, functions rather like a narrator throughout the movement. Various activities are sketched through familiar musical tropes – horn calls, village scenes, etc. – and as the movement progresses the listener is treated to a variety of swiftly changing moods, creating a very dramatic, even operatic, atmosphere.