The last tune an audience expects to hear from a string quartet. Starts with humor and pregnant pauses and develops nicely.

The original melody has an interesting feature - it has as much rest time as music. The sudden 16ths after 3 long quarters is unusual and the accompaniment alternates with the voice. Here was an opportunity to exaggerate these elements creating both humor and interest. The use of triplets in the original also afforded an opportunity to add significant rhythmic complexity which contrasted nicely with the ultra-simplistic beginning. In performance, our first violinist likes to improvise a ‘serious’ classical cadenza before the piece starts at measure one, as this adds to the surprise. In general, watch that the triplets don’t rush and don’t smile too much during those pregnant pauses.