Memories and Aspirations
February 21, 2026, 7:30 pm
FREE - Registration Required
In honor of the recent passing of renowned American composer Paul Schoenfield, Ciompi revisits a powerful and poignant work they commissioned in 2003. Memoirs, the second of Schoenfield’s two string quartets, is a deeply personal composition written in memory of the composer’s father. The program opens with a transcription of one of J. S. Bach’s early masterworks, the Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor for Organ. Composed during Bach’s formative years in Arnstadt, this bold and intricate work stands as one of his most ambitious achievements of the period, revealing a composer willing to break the mold of established structures. The evening concludes with another youthful triumph—Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 4 in C Major. Brimming with energy and early signs of the lyrical style that would define his later works, the quartet offers a fitting close to a program that encompasses both prodigious talent and mature personal reflection.
The Program
Bach: Passacaglia and Fuge in C Minor, BWV 582 for Organ – arranged for String Quartet by Nicholas Kitchen
Paul Schoenfield: String Quartet No. 2 Memoirs (2003) – Commissioned by the Ciompi Quartet
Schubert: String Quartet No. 4 in C Major, D. 46
Presented by DukeArts.
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