The Triptyque is one of the compositons of Tansman that is most often played, by string orchestra or by string quartet, the composer having envisaged two versions. Commissioned by the famous American patron Elisabeth Sprague Coolidge, to whom the work is dedicated, this work was composed in Paris between September and December 1930 and should form part of the repertoire of every string quartet because of its vitality and the formidable energy of its outer movements, the warm lyricism of its central movement and its idiomatic string writing. In the Allegro risoluto few symmetries or formal classical repetitions will be noticed, insofar as the materials are a constantly renewed, resulting in a continuous flow of music, with articulation kept in the background. In this sense this movement appears to have an unsuspected novelty, as it depends on a form of dynamic development of short motifs, perpetually varied in their tonalities and their surroundings, like a structure comparable to that of a mosaic. Nevertheless it is firmly anchored in a tonality, mainly based on long ostinato pedal notes, only sometimes disturbed by chromatic progressions. It will be noticed that the relationships of tonalities are deliberately held as far apart as possible (as the first motif in E flat minor in the viola over a cello pedal of A natural, at the interval of a tritone), as though to increase the tension of the music. At the same time the rhythm, under the fundamental regular impulse of the bass, appears often to contradict the metrical framework by the use of cross-accents or syncopations that enrich the rhythmic interplay.

The second movement Andante has a first idea stated by the viola, completed by two countermelodies that enter in succession in the second and then the first violin. A second idea follows in thirds on the first violin, characteristically accompanied by alternating fifths from the cello, at the same time as chromatic counterpoint from the two other instruments. A diatonic melody of remarkable ingenuity is heard briefly from the first violin. After a first climax that develops the first idea with the violins, the exposition is repeated, including the thirds. A new expressive phrase from the first violin leads to the second climax, less intense than the first, while over a tonic G pedal the thirds fade into unreal harmonics. This fine movement ends with a short confident coda.

The Presto finale offers a Perpetuum mobile theme in semiquavers interrupted by a slow episode, Andante cantabile, first introduced by a chorale, quickly replaced, with the introduction of swaying fifths on the cello, by a berceuse. This takes on a Polish colour when the viola then the cello intone a simple melody of which the fourth degree of the scale is raised (F sharp in C major). The recapitulation of the Presto re-introduces progressively the thematic materials of the first movement until the tempo gradually slows to a Lento, marking the return of the Polish berceuse theme, this time in D flat, forming the final section.

Writer: Gérald Hugon
Translated by: Keith Anderson