Music for Four Stringed Instruments was first composed in August, 1917, as a tribute to Victor Chapman, the first American aviator killed in World War I and the son of a friend of the composer. Before its publication in 1923, it underwent several revisions, and in publishing the work Loeffler withheld the written program and dedication to Chapman's memory that accompanied the 1919 premiere performance. The revisions emphasize the thematic role of the plainchant melody Resurrexi in the first movement. This chant also appears in the second movement, but there the central role is played by Victimae paschali. The programmatic, episodic third movement also employs Resurrexi, but the climactic statement is of a motive from a plainchant antiphon used in the funeral service. The pervasiveness of the Resurrexi music suggests a spiritual interpretation: an affirmation of spiritual victory over earthly sorrow.

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: David Lieberman