Roman Maciejewski

Quintet

Quintet was written in Los Angeles in 1971 at the request of the composition students whom Maciejewski had jokingly described as 'hopelessly ensnared in a world of twelve notes'. Quintet was intended to demonstrate that, despite the fact that it discards classical harmony, the twelve-tone technique can be used to write tonal compositions. A Neoclassical work, it draws inspiration from both Polish folk music and American jazz. As Maciejewski himself described it, This 'Quintet' will take the form of a double variation on 'Oh, the hop plant, the hop plant' [an ancient Polish folk song - ed.] and a twelve-note range treated exceedingly romantically and with a rather extensive double fugue as its finale.