The 3 Wind Quintets of Giuseppe Cambini

The 3 Wind Quintets of Giuseppe Maria Cambini

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

Quintet No. 2

Giuseppe Maria Cambini: Quintet No. 2 in D Minor
Flute, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon

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Wind players who have not played this work are in for a real treat, for this is a most excellent quintet. Clarinets in C and Bb [central movement] and horn crooked in Eb are specified for this work. For the external movements, an alternate part for clarinet in Bb has been supplied by the present editor. In the 19th-century part, the horn has no key signature for B minor [= D minor] or D major [= F major]; instead, Cambini writes in the F#’s and C#’s as accidentals.

First Movement

The initial movement proceeds in a most wonderful and exciting sonata form. The fact that the horn is crooked in Eb rather than F, for a movement in D minor, should cause listeners to be prepared for some special tonal relationships (i.e bII); and, to be sure, Cambini delivers.

Here is the structure of this fascinating movement in which both exposition and development-recapitulation repeat:

Exposition
Theme 1 in i: clarinet
Theme 1extension: i to IIb: bassoon
Theme 2: bII to V: horn
Theme 2k in V
Theme 3: III to V of III: unison then imitation
Theme 4 in III: sequence: horn then flute
Theme 5 in III: bassoon
Theme 5k1 in III: imitative
Theme 5k2 in III: measured tremolo then sfz

Development
Theme 1 variant in III: oboe
Transition: III to bII: imitation
Theme 6 in bII: horn
Transition: bII to iv: bassoon
Transition continued: iv to V: flute

Recapitulation
Theme 1 in i: clarinet
Theme 1k1 in i: clarinet and flute
Theme 1k2 in i: bassoon
Theme 5k2 in i: measured tremolo then sfz

Second Movement

Cambini continues his excursion into tenuous harmonic realms by setting the slow movement of his second wind quintet in the key of the submediant, Bb major. The clarinetist must change from the C clarinet to the Bb instrument here. The style is that of the Siciliano, which Cambini would have known well from his experiences with French opera.

Structurally speaking, this movement is a sonata form without a development section; instead, development is included in the recapitulation, which also eliminates a good deal of the material heard in the exposition, just like the first movement. The tonal relationships are quite fantastic:

Exposition
Theme 1a in I: clarinet
Theme 1b: iii to V
Theme 1a in V: flute
Theme 1b: #IV to IV
Theme 1a in IV: horn
Transition in vi of IV = v of V: bassoon; 1a fragment: V of V
Theme 2 in V: oboe
Themes 2k1 [1b fragment] and 2k2 in V

Recapitulation
Theme 1a in I: clarinet
Theme 1b in v of iii
Development of 1a fragment: V to I
Themes 2k1 [1b fragment], 2k2, 2k3 in I

Third Movement

For the finale, Cambini has composed yet another unusual sonata form, again emphasizing bII. Perhaps, he was not aware of the Viennese manner of handling this structure, because his approach is so very different from that of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, particularly when it comes to the recapitulation where little of the material of the exposition is heard again.

Exposition
Theme 1 in i; bII
Themes 1k1 and 1k2 in V
Theme 2 in III
Theme 2k in i
Theme 3 in iv
Theme 4: bII to iv to V

Development
Theme 5 in bII
Theme 1 in V of bII; III; bII; iv to V

Recapitulation
Theme 1 in i
Theme 6 in V of bII
Themes 6k1 and 6k2 in i

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