Donald Erb (1927-2008) String Quartet No. 3 (1995) Julian Maddox, violin James Thompson, violin Tess Krope, viola Daniel Blumhard, cello performed on March 1, 2020 — About the Music STRING QUARTET NO. 3 was written for the Audubon Quartet under a grant from the Koussevitzky Foundation and was completed on December 8, 1995 at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. The quartet is in one movement which has within it several noticeable sections. It begins slowly with a short introduction containing an important melodic fragment in the viola part, followed by a violin melody which reveals the source material for the piece. This material is developed for some time with an increasing sense of energy. It arrives at a new, much slower section based on the same ideas, but more melodic in character. This also increases in speed and energy, introducing a long section of very fast and colorful music which segues into slow music still based on the same ideas. The fast music returns, this time becoming very wild before it crashes into a slow segment which is somber and reflective and quotes a hymn from my childhood, “Jesus Loves Me.” This is my third use of the children’s hymn in memory of those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing. A section of fast, loud music takes us to the end of the piece. Donald Erb