Arcángel Castillo-Olivari

Elegy

Elegy for Strings' is a set of variations, or developments of the musical material exposed in the first 34 measures of the piece. Two climaxes are relevant in this piece: as the piece becomes more intense and is ascending in dynamics the first solo violin appears after the first climax. The work ends with a kind of funeral march unfolding tree different textures: Violin Solo, First Violins playing long notes in the background 'sul tasto' and with mutes. The rest of the strings perform an 'obstinato' which starts to break the 3/4 meter pattern already present in the entire piece and suddenly replaced by a binary meter. Finally and progressively, the strings fade from the lower registers to the higher sounds letting free the soloist disappear in the silence.