String Quartet No. 19 (Mozart)
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The String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, KV. 465 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, nicknamed "Dissonance" on account of its unusual slow introduction, is perhaps the most famous of his quartets. It is the last in the set of six quartets composed between 1782-1785 that he dedicated to Joseph Haydn.
According to the catalog of works Mozart began early the preceding year, the quartet was completed on January 14, 1785.
As is normal with Mozart's later quartets, it is in four movements:
- Adagio-Allegro
- Andante cantabile - in F major
- Menuetto. Allegro. (C major, trio in C minor)
- Allegro molto
The first movement opens with ominous quiet C's in the cello, joined successively by the viola (on A♭ moving to a G), the second violin (on E♭) and the first violin (on A), thus creating the "dissonance" itself and narrowly avoiding a greater one. This lack of harmony and fixed key continues throughout the slow introduction before resolving into the bright C major of the Allegro section of the first movement, which is in sonata form.
The second movement is in condensed sonata form, i.e. lacking the development section. Alfred Einstein writes of the coda of this movement that "the first violin openly expresses what seemed hidden beneath the conversational play of the subordinate theme." (p. 156.)
The third movement is a minuet and trio, with the exuberant mood of the minuet darkening into the C minor of the trio.
The last movement is also in sonata form. It is, unusually, the most significant movement of the entire quartet (the first movement normally is) and Mozart poured his remarkable resources into it.
[edit] References
- Einstein, Alfred. translated by Mendel, A. and Broder, N. Mozart, his character, his work. Dover Publications paperback 1972 republication of 1945 Oxford University Press edition . ISBN 978-0-486-22859-4.
- John Irving, Mozart, the "Haydn" quartets. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1998)
[edit] External links
- 'Mozart - Quartet in C major, K465 (Dissonance)', lecture by Professor Roger Parker, followed by a performance by The Badke Quartet, Gresham College, 10th October 2007 (available for download as MP3 or MP4, as well as a text document)
- String Quartet No. 19 was available at the International Music Score Library Project.
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