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Mozart met the Viennese clarinettist Anton Stadler, in 1782 and by 1784 the two
men had joined the same Masonic Lodge. Their friendship was to influence much of
Mozart's later writing for the instrument, not just in the Masonic concepts of The
Magic Flute but also in the extended solos for clarinet and bass clarinet in La
Clemenza di Tito and in the undoubted late masterpieces that are the Clarinet
Concerto K622 and the present Clarinet Quintet K581. At this time, the clarinet was a
relative newcomer to symphonic music and Mozart originally wrote both the Quintet
and the Concerto for the instrument known as a basset clarinet. The original
performances would thus have been given on a somewhat different instrument than
we know nowadays and it was the publication of the scores in the early nineteenth
century that established the clarinet parts we recognise today, transposing some of
the original music upwards.
Mozart's masterpiece was composed at a time of financial and emotional difficulty.
His father had died some two years previously, his wife had been constantly ill and
Mozart's reputation was for one or other reason, distinctly on the wane. Despite this
state of despair, the Quintet is written in a sunny A major, the solo clarinet expressing
a state of calm and peaceful resignation. The first performance was given at Vienna's
Burgtheater with Stadler as soloist.
The four movements are conventionally laid out. The opening Allegro is a dialogue
for soloist and strings, followed by a lyrical slow movement (Larghetto), similar in
feel to the later Clarinet Concerto, which gives way to a Menuetto with two Trios
(the second being in the style of the Viennese Ländler - a sort of countryside
precursor of the Waltz). Finally, a set of variations, led initially by the solo clarinet
bring the work to its close.
Mozart's only Horn Quintet perhaps suggests a relationship with the four well
known Horn Concerti - playful and at turns Romantic as the instrument itself
suggests (particularly when used some years later by Schumann,Wagner or
Bruckner). But this is more of a humorous piece.Written for the Salzburg horn
player, Ignaz Leutgeb it is perhaps even something of a joke.
Despite this, the three movement work contains a rather moving central Andante
with its duet between horn and violin. The piece is scored, somewhat oddly, for solo
horn accompanied by two violas and a single cello - no violins in sight. Although the
work is basically a chamber style concerto, the first and final movements (both
simply marked as Allegros) do little to point out the virtuoso or melodic capabilities
of the solo instrument. On publication, one of the minuets from the Serenade (K375)
was added to make the work rather more substantial, but this is essentially
lightweight and not very serious Mozart.
The Oboe Quartet (K370) is something of quite a different matter.
This is Mozart at his most serious and has even been seen as a forerunner of the
marvellous late Clarinet Quintet. Indeed the oboe is one of Mozart's (and his
contemporaries') more favoured instruments, with its plangent yet sweet tone it is the
ideal instrument of the period - something that Richard Strauss realised when he
paid homage to Mozart in his own, late Oboe Concerto.
Mozart's Quartet was composed for the oboist Friederich Ramm whilst the composer
was in Munich at the beginning of 1781: it is thus related to the period of the great
opera seria Idomeneo, another Munich commission and has that seriousness of
purpose that marks out one of the composer's great periods of music making. The
work is written in a conven- tional enough form with three movements following the
general principle of the ternary Allegro, Adagio and Rondo and perhaps related to the
first of the Flute Quartets (in D major). This time the work is also in a major key, but
that of F major. It has a tendency also towards the concerto form and even includes a
small cadenza in the related D minor slow movement. There is also a strange but
effective moment in the final movement where the strings play in 6/8 time whilst the
soloist plays his melody in 4/4 time. Indeed it is hardly an exaggeration to claim this
is one of Mozart's finest chamber-concertante works looking forward to some of the
later masterpieces.
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