''Epitaphium'' is a composition for

string trio A string trio is a group of three string instruments or a piece written for such a group. From at least the 19th century on, the term "string trio" with otherwise unspecified instrumentation normally refers to the combination violin, viola and cello ...

Graham Waterhouse Graham Waterhouse (born 2 November 1962) is an English composer and cellist who specializes in chamber music. He has composed a cello concerto, '' Three Pieces for Solo Cello'' and '' Variations for Cello Solo'' for his own instrument, and str ...

. In 2007, after the death of his father William Waterhouse, he composed ''Epitaphium in Memoriam W.R.W.'' as a tribute to his memory.

History

William Waterhouse died suddenly in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

on 5 November 2007, age 76. His son composed ''Epitaphium'' as an

Epitaph An epitaph (; ) is a short text honoring a deceased person. Strictly speaking, it refers to text that is inscribed on a tombstone or plaque, but it may also be used in a figurative sense. Some epitaphs are specified by the person themselves be ...

to be performed at a memorial service in London, "In Memoriam W.R.W.". Instead, the trio was premiered on 19 July 2009 in the Kleiner Konzertsaal of the

Gasteig The Gasteig is a currently closed cultural center in Munich, opened in 1985, which hosts the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. The Richard Strauss Conservatory, the Volkshochschule, and the municipal library are all located in the Gasteig. Most ...

, performed by the players of the

Münchner Philharmoniker The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...

Clément Courtin (violin) and Gunter Pretzel (viola), and the composer (cello). The program included

Wilhelm Killmayer Wilhelm Killmayer (21 August 1927 – 20 August 2017) was a German composer of classical music, a conductor and an academic teacher of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München from 1973 to 1992. He composed symphonies and so ...

's Trio (1984),

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

's string trio and Mozart's Divertimento K. 563. ''Epitaphium'' was performed several times, including a concert on 14 March 2011 in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

presenting mostly contemporary Bavarian composers, along with the composer's Bassoon Quintet and music of

Franz Lachner Franz Paul Lachner (2 April 180320 January 1890) was a German composer and conductor. Biography Lachner was born in Rain am Lech to a musical family (his brothers Ignaz, and Vinzenz also became musicians). He studied music with Simon Sec ...

Jörg Duda Jörg Duda (born 17 December 1968) is a German composer of classical music. Life and career Born in Munich, Duda was influenced by the church music of Scheyern Abbey. He took lessons in organ and improvisation with Harald Feller, in theory an ...

Bernd Redmann Bernd Redmann (born 10 May 1965 in Bamberg) is a German composer, music theorist, and musicologist. Career Born in Bamberg, Bernd Redmann studied at the University of Music and Theatre Munich, music pedagogy and composition with Dieter Acker ...

and Dieter Acker, with violist

Konstantin Sellheim Konstantin Sellheim (born 1978) is a German classical violist, who has appeared internationally with a focus on chamber music. He is a violist of the Münchner Philharmoniker, and lecturer of viola at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Career ...

. ''Epitaphium'' was the penultimate work in the concert ''

The Proud Bassoon William Waterhouse (18 February 1931 – 5 November 2007) was an English bassoonist and musicologist. He played with notable orchestras, was a member of the Melos Ensemble, professor at the Royal Northern College of Music, author of the ''Yehud ...

'', celebrating William Waterhouse on 16 April 2011 in

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

. It was the first performance of the work in the UK. The players were the children of William Waterhouse, as had been planned originally for the Memorial Service: Celia Waterhouse, violinist with the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. The ...

, Lucy Waterhouse, viola, and the composer, cello. On the program was also the composer's quartet for three bassoons and contrabassoon ''

Bright Angel ''Bright Angel'' is a 1990 American drama film directed by Michael Fields, and starring Dermot Mulroney, Lili Taylor, and Sam Shepard. The film follows two teenagers, George and the transient Lucy, who travel from their home in Montana to Wyoming ...

''.

Music

The 76-bar work is marked Adagio ma con moto. The opening theme is reminiscent of

plainsong Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...

. The harmony relies on the pure intervals –

perfect fourth A fourth is a interval (music), musical interval encompassing four staff positions in the music notation of Western culture, and a perfect fourth () is the fourth spanning five semitones (half steps, or half tones). For example, the ascending int ...

perfect fifth In music theory, a perfect fifth is the Interval (music), musical interval corresponding to a pair of pitch (music), pitches with a frequency ratio of 3:2, or very nearly so. In classical music from Western culture, a fifth is the interval f ...

s and octaves, often together with open strings and natural harmonics.

Cadenza In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...

-like episodes and

pizzicato Pizzicato (, ; translated as 'pinched', and sometimes roughly as 'plucked') is a playing technique that involves plucking the strings of a string instrument. The exact technique varies somewhat depending on the type of instrument: * On bowe ...

add colour. A motif quotes the "Requiescant in pace" from Britten's ''

War Requiem The ''War Requiem'', Op. 66, is a choral and orchestral composition by Benjamin Britten, composed mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The ''War Requiem'' was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, in the Englis ...

'', referring both to the words "may they rest in peace" as to the premiere of the work, which William Waterhouse had played as the

bassoon The bassoon is a musical instrument in the woodwind family, which plays in the tenor and bass ranges. It is composed of six pieces, and is usually made of wood. It is known for its distinctive tone color, wide range, versatility, and virtuosity ...

ist of the

Melos Ensemble The Melos Ensemble is a group of musicians who started in 1950 in London to play chamber music in mixed instrumentation of string instruments, wind instruments and others. Benjamin Britten composed the chamber music for his ''War Requiem'' for the ...

, conducted by the composer. An augmented version of the opening theme in the violin, accompanied by fifths on natural harmonics and bell-like pizzicato, ends the music. Peter Grahame Woolf summarised after the UK premiere: "Epitaphium for W.R.W. packs a memorable punch and intensity into 76 bars".

References

External links

Graham Waterhouse
website
Clément Courtin

Gunter Pretzel

Konstantin Sellheim

{{Authority control String trios by Graham Waterhouse Contemporary classical compositions 2007 compositions Funerary and memorial compositions