String Quartet No. 14 (Mozart)

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The String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782 while in Vienna, and was perhaps edited in 1783. This is the first of the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets he wrote during his first few years in Vienna in honor of the composer Joseph Haydn, who is generally viewed as the father of the string quartet form.

Contents 1 Movements 2 References 3 Media 4 Discography

[edit] Movements

As with all later Mozart quartets, this quartet has four movements:

• I. Allegro vivace assai
• II. Menuetto
• III. Andante cantabile
• IV. Molto allegro

The first movement, in G major, contrasts fairly diatonic passages with chromatic runs. According to (Williams, 1997) "it must come as something of a surprise to anyone examining this quartet just how much chromaticism there is in it." In contrast to his 4-movement symphonies, all of which place the minuet as the 3rd movement, this quartet has the minuet as its 2nd movement. It is a long minuet, written in the tonic key of G major, with its chromatic fourths set apart by note-to-note dynamics changes. The minuet is followed by a slow movement in the subdominant C major, whose theme explores remote key areas.

The fugal theme of four whole notes in the finale points ahead to the finale of Mozart's "Jupiter" Symphony of 1788, a movement which also begins with four whole notes that are used in a highly fugal fashion, in the magnificent coda.

[edit] References

• John Irving, Mozart, the "Haydn" quartets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1998)
• Williams, Peter F. The chromatic fourth during four centuries of music. Oxford : Clarendon Press ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1997: 130

[edit] Media

[edit] Discography

On Naxos, the Éder Quartet recorded this quartet together with three early quartets (8.550541). In most cases, however, it is recorded together with the other Haydn Quartets, for example, the Solomon Quartet on Hyperion, the Artis Quartett on Sony, Quattuor Ysaÿe on Decca, etc.