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Chamber music

Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part (in contrast to orchestral music, in which each string part is played by a number of performers). However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.

"Kammermusik" redirects here. For the works by Hindemith, see Kammermusik (Hindemith).

Because of its intimate nature, chamber music has been described as "the music of friends".[1] For more than 100 years, chamber music was played primarily by amateur musicians in their homes, and even today, when chamber music performance has migrated from the home to the concert hall, many musicians, amateur and professional, still play chamber music for their own pleasure. Playing chamber music requires special skills, both musical and social, that differ from the skills required for playing solo or symphonic works.[2]


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described chamber music (specifically, string quartet music) as "four rational people conversing".[3] This conversational paradigm – which refers to the way one instrument introduces a melody or motif and then other instruments subsequently "respond" with a similar motif – has been a thread woven through the history of chamber music composition from the end of the 18th century to the present. The analogy to conversation recurs in descriptions and analyses of chamber music compositions.

An opening movement in , usually with two contrasting themes, followed by a development section where the thematic material is transformed and transposed, and ending with a recapitulation of the initial two themes.

sonata form

A lyrical movement in a slow or moderate tempo, sometimes built out of three sections that repeat themselves in the order A–B–C–A–B–C, and sometimes a set of variations.

A or scherzo, a light movement in three quarter time, with a main section, a contrasting trio section, and a repeat of the main section.

minuet

A fast finale section in form, a series of contrasting sections with a main refrain section opening and closing the movement, and repeating between each section.

rondo

The chamber music experience[edit]

Players of chamber music, both amateur and professional, attest to a unique enchantment with playing in ensemble. "It is not an exaggeration to say that there opened out before me an enchanted world", writes Walter Willson Cobbett, instigator of the Cobbett Competition, Cobbett Medal and editor of Cobbett's Cyclopedic Survey of Chamber Music.[93]


Ensembles develop a close intimacy of shared musical experience. "It is on the concert stage where the moments of true intimacy occur", writes Steinhardt. "When a performance is in progress, all four of us together enter a zone of magic somewhere between our music stands and become a conduit, messenger, and missionary ... It is an experience too personal to talk about and yet it colors every aspect of our relationship, every good-natured musical confrontation, all the professional gossip, the latest viola joke."[94]


The playing of chamber music has been the inspiration for numerous books, both fiction and nonfiction. An Equal Music by Vikram Seth, explores the life and love of the second violinist of a fictional quartet, the Maggiore. Central to the story is the tensions and the intimacy developed between the four members of the quartet. "A strange composite being we are [in performance], not ourselves any more, but the Maggiore, composed of so many disjunct parts: chairs, stands, music, bows, instruments, musicians ..."[95] The Rosendorf Quartet, by Nathan Shaham,[96] describes the trials of a string quartet in Palestine, before the establishment of the state of Israel. For the Love of It by Wayne Booth[97] is a nonfictional account of the author's romance with cello playing and chamber music.

the , or ACMP – The Chamber Music Network, an international organization that encourages amateur and professional chamber music playing. ACMP has a fund to support chamber music projects, and publishes a directory of chamber musicians worldwide.

Associated Chamber Music Players

supports professional chamber music groups through grants for residencies and commissions, through award programs, and through professional development programs.

Chamber Music America

the for Chamber Music Research is an organization dedicated to the rediscovery of works of forgotten chamber music.

Cobbett Association

Archived 2017-11-14 at the Wayback Machine publishes a newsletter on amateur chamber music activities worldwide, as well as a guide to music workshops for amateurs.

Music for the Love of It

the , a non-profit organization that encourages public involvement and appreciation of chamber music. The OCMS has organized Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, the largest chamber music festival in the world, since 1994.[98]

Ottawa Chamber Music Society

a large non-profit chamber music promoter working across Australia that tours local and international chamber music artists, as well as managing chamber music festivals and young artist development programs.

Musica Viva Australia

Numerous societies are dedicated to the encouragement and performance of chamber music. Some of these are:


In addition to these national and international organizations, there are also numerous regional and local organizations that support chamber music. Some of the most prominent professional American chamber music ensembles and organizations are:

, ed. (1984). The New Grove Violin Family. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 0-393-02556-X.

Sadie, Stanley

(ed. Stanley Sadie, 1980)

The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians

Sicca, Luigi Maria (2000). "Chamber music and organization theory: some typical organizational phenomena seen under the microscope". Studies in Cultures, Organizations and Societies. 6 (2). Taylor & Francis: 145–168. :10.1080/10245280008523545. ISSN 1024-5286. S2CID 145538145.

doi

Sumner Lott, Marie (2015). . University of Illinois Press. ISBN 978-0-252-03922-5. Retrieved 12 February 2017.

The Social Worlds of Nineteenth-Century Chamber Music: Composers, Consumers, Communities

Thompson, Oscar (1940). Debussy: Man and Artist. Tudor Publishing.

Chamber Music America

an online database of over 50,000 chamber works

earsense chamberbase

sponsor of the chamber music competitions and a supporter of chamber music education.

Fischoff National Chamber Music Association

New York City

Associated Chamber Music Players (ACMP)

Annotated bibliography of double wind quintet music