Halffter, Rihm, and Huber use quotations with different intentions. Halffter's Noche pasiva del sentido makes extensive use of a descending four-tone motive that not only associates the piece with Spanish folklore in general but also plays an important role in Ravel's Rhapsodie espagnole. Rihm modeled the fourth movement of his String Quartet No. 3 over long stretches on the "Cavatina" from Beethoven's String Quartet, Op. 130; some of the thematic material is derived from Beethoven and the movements show similar outlines. "Genesis," the first movement from Huber's Violin Concerto (Tempora) represents the emergence of sound from "primitive noises" (Urgeräusche), including in this process a structurally important quotation of the B-A-C-H motive. The third movement, "quod libet," displays its link to the classical tradition by including literal quotations, thus alluding to the contraction "quodlibet." In his ...inwendig voller figur..., Huber reuses material from the second ("De Natura") and last ("quod nescitur") movements of his Violin Concerto, relating Dürer's sketch Traumgesicht and texts of the apocalypse of John.

Works: Halffter: Noche pasiva del sentido (131-35); Rihm: In Innersten (String Quartet No. 3, 138-43); Huber: Tempora 143-50), . . . inwendig voller figur . . . (146, 149).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Andreas Giger