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Mozart was a reluctant composer for the flute. However at the time when the Flute
Quartets K 285 and K 285a were composed he was also writing the Concerto for
Flute and Harp, a Flute Concerto (K 313) and an Andante for Flute and Orchestra (K
315 - possibly a substitute central movement for K 313). Other works composed at
the time of his visit to Mannheim in late 1777 include the Piano Sonatas K 309 - 311
and the Violin Sonatas K 296 and K 301 - 306.
K 285 and K 285a were part of an extensive commission received whilst Mozart was
in Mannheim from the Dutch amateur flautist Ferdinand Dejean (1737 - 97) for
which Mozart was to be paid in total 200 gulden. Dejean was a surgeon in the Dutch
East India Company who had also commissioned the Flute Concerto K 313 and other
works. Dejean stipulated that the total collection should be delivered within two
months of 10 December 1777. The only surviving edition from 1792 publishes the
two movements of K 285a with the Allegro movement of K 285. On 15 February
Dejean traveled to Paris, having paid Mozart just 96 gulden for the music received at
that time. This might have seemed harsh but one work (a Flute concerto) was simply
a transcription of an existing concerto for oboe and other work submitted appeared
to be incomplete. Although accompanied in Mannheim by his mother, he pursued
new acquaintances (especially female) with a vigour that left him with little time for
composition. These acquaintances included the Weber family, and in particular the
eldest daughter Aloysia, whose sister Constanze he was later to marry. Clearly having
felt cooped up in Salzburg with a strict father and a stuffy employer,Mozart, albeit
under the disapproving gaze of his mother, was making up for lost time.
K 285 is in three movements: Allegro. Adagio. Rondo: Allegretto.
The Allegro, despite Mozart's distaste for the sound of the flute is one of his happiest
creations with a wealth of melody whilst the Adagio is one of the most beautiful
pieces for the flute. K 285a is in two movements (Andante. Menuetto) following the
pattern set by Mozart's friend Johann Christian Bach. If Mozart was feeling any
pressure to complete this work by a deadline, he did not show it in his music, for the
opening Andante shows him to be in a relaxed frame of mind. The Menuetto
however is truncated, for the usual Trio is omitted.
Only the comparatively recent discovery of part of the first movement of K 285b in
Mozart's hand has provided conclusive evidence as to his authorship of this work.
This sketch also includes part of the first act of Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and
thus can be dated with some accuracy to the period of the opera's composition ie
1781 / 2, the beginning of the Viennese period. The second movement, a theme with
variations marked Andantino, is an arrangement of the sixth movement of the
Serenade in B flat K361, thought to have been commissioned by the eventual
publisher of the Quartet Heinrich Philipp Carl Bossler.
K 298 is much later, composed during 1786 and 1787 and is a piece of Hausmusik
written for the Jacquin family. Each of its three movements has music borrowed
from other composers. The opening Andantino, is a set of variations based on a
song by Hoffmeister, a hugely prolific composer of over 65 symphonies and a
number of works for flute and clarinet. The theme of the second movement
(Menuetto) is another song, this time from France ‘Il a des bottes, des bottes Bastien'
whilst the third movement uses a current favourite aria by Paisiello from his opera Le
gare generose.
Despite having more than his fair share of bad luck during his lifetime,Mozart's
ebullient sense of humour was never far from the surface.
His letters to his father describing his riotous living whilst in Mannheim were
probably written with the clear intention of winding Leopold up and show a
mischievous side to Wolfgang. In the Flute Quartet K 298 we see the lover of pure
nonsense: above the Paisiello movement is written ‘Rondieaoux / Allegretto grazioso,
ma non troppo presto, pero non troppo adagio. Cosi - cosi - con molto garbo ed
espressione (Rondo-mieow / Allegretto grazioso, but not too fast and not too slow
either. Just so, so - with a lot of charm and expression).
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