In what is becoming a tradition, the DaPonte String Quartet will once again offer a special Valentine’s Day concert for both music lovers and just plain lovers at the Jewish Museum in Portland at 7:30 p.m.

The Quartet has put together an eclectic program of short pieces that span the ages from Renaissance to Baroque to the 20th century, but all have one thing in common: a playful approach to life, love and romance.

The Renaissance pieces are “motets about love, sex and heartache,” according to DSQ violinist Ferdinand Liva.  Liva adds, about the next piece,  “Concerto Grosso”  by Allessandro Scarlatti, that the composer was a scurrilous Sicilian whose behavior got him into constant hot water.  Hugo Wolf’s “Italian Serenade” is a lively and optimistic evocation of the Italianate spirit, which follows the exploits of  randy young men on a jaunt through Italy. DaPonte cellist Myles Jordan describes the Serenade itself as “a drunken recitative played by the cello—like Marlon Brando bellowing Stella! in ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’.” And the titles  of the short movements in Benjamin Britten’s “Simple Symphony” (for string quartet) tell you all you need to know: “Boisterous Bourrée,” “Playful Pizzicato,” “Sentimental Sarabande,” and “Frolicsome Finale.”

The Jewish Museum is located at 267 Congress St., Portland. Tickets are $25, and are available at www.DaPonte.org, or Longfellow Books in Portland. For more information, call 207-529-4555.

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