Diabelli Project - The String Trio Project (171-182)

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

Below are all the pages to the string trio series. Each movement was written in four 10-minute installments. It's interesting to take a look at the entire project together. I calculated the playing times for each movement. I've written about 1'20" of the first movement, 1'45" of the second, and almost a minute of the third.

That changes things a little. Initially, I thought when I had reached the double bar in the third movement, I was almost done. It may turn out to be the middle of an ABACA rondo, instead.

I still like the idea of a compact work, but it needs just a little more. As I revise this, I'll be looking to expand the outer movements to about two minutes each, and the middle movement perhaps to three.

(click on the images to enlarge)

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 182 - String Trio, Mvt. 3D

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session.

This is the fourth and final part of the last movement. When I limited myself to just a 10-minute block of writing, the sketch didn't progress very far. Doing flash compositions in installments has forced me to think differently as I write -- which was always one of the goals of this project.

In this case, I reached something of a milestone. Apparently, my subconscious had a three-part movement in mind (ABA). This week I finished up the middle section and started on the recap of A. Of course, it's not an exact repetition -- that would be boring. But it does contain the essence of the opening A section material. It's a simple matter now to finish the movement.

(The grayed area is where I stopped the previous week.)

Next week, I'll post all of the finished pages I have for this work. Seeing them all together should be of interest, I think (at least to me).

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 181 - String Trio, Mvt. 3C

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session.

This is the third part of the third (and final) movement. This week the sketch arrived at a major cadence point for the movement. And once it arrived, I found it was leading me back to the beginning. I think next week's sketch will see a return to the opening material (at least in some form). 

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 180 - String Trio, Mvt. 3B

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session.

This is the second part of the third (and final) movement. After the tutti introduction of the first part, the trio starts to break apart. The viola keeps time while the violin and cello trade ascending and descending lines. Not to worry -- there's a point to it all.

Although I ran out of time this week, we'll be arriving at the cadence point with next week's sketch (I think). The grayed area is from the previous post.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 179 - String Trio, Mvt. 3A

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.
This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session.

This is the first part of the third (and final) movement. It starts off with a simple four-note motif in sevenths. The shifting of the meter from 3/4 to 2/4 is designed to keep the pulse from settling into too regular a pattern. That sense of off-balance continues through the cadence points.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 178 - String Trio, Mvt. 2D

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 

This is the fourth part of the second movement.

I didn't get quite as far as I wanted to, but there's still enough there for me to finish the movement. The viola solo ends, and with it, the ostinato pattern in the other strings. If I were to continue, I'd have a section of long, slow-moving chords that continually shifted and changed. And the movement would end with a modified return to the opening section -- perhaps with a star role for the cello.

But for this project, it's time to move on to the final movement for its series of four flash sessions...

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 177 - String Trio, Mvt. 2C

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 

This is the third part of the second movement. The grayed out area was where I stopped last week.

In this section, the solo instrumental duties transfer from the violin to the viola. The quintuplet accompanying figure continues. The violin steps back to take over from the viola. In the next part I'm sure the viola solo will continue. But after that? I'm not sure. We'll find out together.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 176 - String Trio, Mvt. 2B

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 


Observant readers have noted there's a bit of a lag time between the date written on the sketch and the date it gets posted. It takes a little while to get a sketch into a fair copy, scanned, cleaned up, and ready to post.

My Diabelli Project posts go out on Mondays. To keep to the schedule, this post should have gone live 12/25/17, and the following post 1/1/18. So I decided to take a break and resume publication after the holidays.

This is the second part of the second movement. The quintuplet rhythm introduced at the end of the first part turns into an accompanying figure. The violin solos over top of the chugging quintuplets. There's no doubt that solo will continue into the third part.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 175 - String Trio, Mvt. 2A

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 


This is the first part of the second movement. Everything grows out of the unison middle C. The violin line came to me first. It's kind of an improvisatory melody. I make sense of it by having the viola and the cello echo some of the figures as they moved away from the opening note.

I can see this movement developing in an arch form. It expands outwards and then moves back in. Eventually, all three instruments will converge on a unison note -- which may or may not be middle C.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 174 - String Trio, Mvt. 1D

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 


This is the fourth part of the first movement, and it's also the final sketch for this movement. Next week I'll devote four sessions to the second movement, then four to the final. In each case, I expect the combined sketches should be enough to complete the work.

This sketch continues the climax to a cadence point started in the last part. And, it also marks a return of the opening material at the end. Of course, it's not quite the same,  but that's the point.

All told, I have about a minute and half of what will probably be a 3-5 minute movement. So far, so good!

The grayed measure is from last week's sketch.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 173 - String Trio, Mvt. 1C

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 

This is the third part of the first movement. I finished the cello solo that began with last week's sketch. The rhythmic ostinato in the upper strings was something of a surprise. I'll be interested to see where my subconscious takes me next week.

The grayed measure is from last week's sketch.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 172 - String Trio, Mvt. 1B

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This string trio series is a bit of a departure. I'm still flash composing, with a 10-minute time limit to write as much as I can. Instead of starting over each week, I'll be attempting to pick up where I left off from the previous week for my 10-minute session. 

This is the second part of the first movement. I continued with the repeated 16th note patterns of the first part. The cello has a solo that I'll (hopefully) finish in next week's installment. I did refer back to the first sketch before writing this one. While that did give this sketch some direction, I didn't feel hemmed in by what I had written before.

The grayed measure is from last week's sketch,
.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.

Diabelli Project 171 - String Trio, Mvt. 1A

The Diabelli Project is about offering my weekly flash-composition sketches freely to all. Like Antonio Diabelli's theme, these sketches aren't great music. But perhaps (as in Diabelli's case) there's a Beethoven out there who can do great things with them.

This sketch starts a new series. Recently I've caught myself anticipating the end of the session. I have a pretty good idea of about how much I can write in the allotted ten minutes. For many of the recent sketches, the music seems to really get going in the last half measure with only a hint of what's to come.

So it's time to expand the challenge. For this sketch, I wrote for the ten minutes and stopped. Next week, I'll pick up where I left off and work for another ten. And another ten the week after that, and another ten the week following.

And following that, I'll start a sketch for the next movement, and follow the same process. Then I'll do the same with a concluding third movement.

Will it all hang together? Hard to say. It may all just hang separately. But I think it's worth a try. Here's the first installment.

As always, you can use any or all of the posted Diabelli Project sketches as you wish for free. Just be sure to share the results. I'm always curious to see what direction someone else can take this material.