Composer: Charles Geng (fl.1875-1895)

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I couldn't find anything about Geng, but IMSLP lists him under "French People" and given the score uses the French spelling "Melodie," Geng being French seems a fair assumption. I'm trusting that IMSLP has his dates right, though even they don't have a birth year.

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Date: 1880

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Original Instrumentation: 3 violins, viola, 2 cellos (or violin, cello, and piano)

 

Why this one:

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I hadn't done a sextet before so I thought it would be fun and the piece was short so I could dip my toe into a larger chamber ensemble without putting myself through the wringer.  Geng not having any presence of note online as also a bonus, given the nature of this endeavor.​​

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Description:  

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Key:  G

Time: 6/8  BPM=Eighth note 160 

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This piece features a solo violin and solo cello, backed by a string quartet.  It's structured ABA, with the A sections in G major, and the B section switching to D major.  The section A melody sounds like a triple meter lullaby with the lead violin and cello mostly harmonizing with each other in thirds.   The soloists do less harmonizing in the B section, giving it more of a call  and response feel.  After the second A section there's a brief coda.

 

The string quartet accompaniment is pretty basic, being built around slow ascending arpeggios in part A and chord drones in part B.

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Performance:

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I laid the tracks down in one session in this order: solo violin, accompaniment violin 1, accompaniment violin 2, solo cello, accompaniment cello, viola. The solo cello was the most difficult to play, but still wasn't too hard.   Figuring out how to play it was the difficult part as it was almost entirely in treble clef, which I'm really bad at reading on the cello.  (Cello is usually in the bass clef and I read it there pretty well these days.) 

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Errata:

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I actually tabbed out the solo cello part, which I don't usually do, but I figured it would be way faster than creating a robust mental map for treble clef cello.  I'm never quite sure what to do with treble clef on cello.  I have read that it is sometimes understood to be played an octave lower than it is written but I've seen pieces where doing that would be way more easily notated in tenor clef or even the cello's normal bass clef.  I opted to play the notes as written here, so some of them were really high on the neck.   Playing the notes as written means they were in the same octave as the violin that they were harmonizing with, which I though fit.  Would it have sounded cooler an octave down? Shrug​​

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Album Art:

 

Seeing as Geng was allegedly French I used this picture I took of Mont St. Michel in France.  It was a lovely spot.