Clarinet Quintet in A major K581 (1789)

Minuetto

Tema con variazione

Attractive though they are Mozart’s Flute Quartets cannot compare in quality with his Clarinet Quintet in A which, like the similarly inspired Clarinet Concerto in the same key, was written by a very much mature composer for one of the outstanding instrumentalists of the day. Anton Stadler’s clarinet playing was a revelation to his contemporaries, particularly when he made use of his own version of the instrument with its extended lower register. Both the Quintet and the Concerto were written for what is now known as the basset clarinet but it has long been common practice to perform them on the standard clarinet. Whatever instrument is used in the Quintet, the brilliance of Mozart’s scoring remains undimmed and Stadler’s famously uncanny approximation to the human voice is eloquently reflected throughout the Larghetto and at such lyrical points elsewhere as the Adagio fifth variation in the finale.

Minuetto

Tema con variazione

Like the similarly inspired Clarinet Concerto in the same key, Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet was written for one of the outstanding instrumentalists of the day. Anton Stadler’s clarinet playing was a revelation to his contemporaries, not least when he made use of his own version of the instrument with its extended lower register. Although both the Quintet and the Concerto were written for what is now known as the basset clarinet, it has long been common practice to perform them, with a little adaptation, on the standard clarinet. Whatever instrument is used in the Quintet, the brilliance of Mozart’s scoring remains undimmed, least of all in the dramatic series of arpeggios vying with all four strings in the development section of the first movement. Stadler’s famously uncanny approximation to the human voice is eloquently reflected throughout the Larghetto and at such lyrical points elsewhere as the Adagio fifth variation in the finale where the clarinet so artfully adds a compassionate counterpoint to the melancholy viola line.

Minuetto

Tema con variazione

“Never would I have thought that a clarinet could be capable of imitating the human voice as deceptively as it is imitated by you. Truly, your instrument has so soft and lovely a tone that nobody who has a heart can resist it.” Bearing in mind that testimony from an admirer of Anton Stadler, no one need be surprised that Mozart wrote as much as he did – including the Trio, the Quintet and the Concerto – for his good friend, fellow freemason and favourite clarinettist.

One thing Mozart particularly liked about Stadler’s clarinet was its specially designed extension, which added two whole tones to the bottom register of the standard instrument. It was for the basset clarinet, as it is now called, that Mozart wrote the Concerto and very probably the Quintet too. Even when, as is usually the case, they are performed in the long-established versions for standard clarinet, both works have a special colour deriving from Stadler’s interest in the bottom register of the instrument. In the first movement of the Quintet, although the melodic interest when it is passed to the clarinet is confined largely to the upper registers, most of its bravura arpeggios start or end in the chalumeau area.

As for the singing voice eulogised by Stadler’s admirer, the Larghetto, including those few moments when darker colours are introduced, is a still more eloquent testimony. Excluded from the sombre first trio section of the Minuetto, the clarinet offers a compensatingly cheerful ländler-style second trio covering most of the then accepted range of the instrument. None of the four movements is more enterprisingly scored, however, than the last, which so artfully adds a compassionate chalumeau counterpoint to the melancholy viola line in the third variation, so entertainingly calls on the clarinet’s agility in bouncing between registers in the fourth variation and so touchingly recalls its singing voice in the fifth.

Minuetto

Tema con variazione

“Never would I have thought that a clarinet could be capable of imitating the human voice as deceptively as it is imitated by you. Truly, your instrument has so soft and lovely a tone that nobody who has a heart can resist it.” Bearing in mind that testimony from an admirer of Anton Stadler, no one need be surprised that Mozart wrote as much as he did – including the Trio, the Quintet and the Concerto – for his good friend, brother freemason and favourite clarinettist. A similar situation arose more than a hundred years later when Brahms was inspired by the playing of Richard Mühlfeld to abandon his decision to retire from composing and to write four last chamber works for his clarinettist “prima donna.”

One thing Mozart particularly liked about Stadler’s clarinet was its specially designed extension, which added two whole tones to the bottom register of the standard instrument. It was for the basset clarinet, as it is now called, that Mozart wrote the Concerto and very probably the Quintet too. Even when, as is usually the case, they are performed in the long-established versions for standard clarinet, both works have a special colour deriving from Stadler’s interest in the bottom register of the instrument. In the first movement of the Quintet, although the melodic interest when it is passed from the strings to the clarinet – or when the clarinet recapitulates it – is confined largely to the upper registers, most of its bravura arpeggios start or end in the chalumeau area. The most dramatic instance is the series of arpeggios vying with all four strings towards the end of the development section.

As for the singing voice eulogised by Stadler’s admirer, the Larghetto, including those few moments when darker colours are introduced, is a still more eloquent testimony. Excluded from the sombre first trio section of the Minuetto, the clarinet offers a compensatingly cheerful ländler-style second trio covering most of the then accepted range of the instrument. None of the four movements is more enterprisingly scored, however, than the last, which so artfully adds a compassionate chalumeau counterpoint to the melancholy viola line in the third variation, so entertainingly calls on the clarinet’s agility in bouncing between registers in the fourth variation and so touchingly recalls its singing voice in the fifth.

Minuetto

Tema con variazione

“Never would I have thought that a clarinet could be capable of imitating the human voice as deceptively as it is imitated by you. Truly, your instrument has so soft and lovely a tone that nobody who has a heart can resist it.” Bearing in mind that testimony from an admirer of Anton Stadler, no one need be surprised that Mozart wrote as much as he did – including the Trio, the Quintet and the Concerto – for his good friend, brother freemason and favourite clarinettist. Similar situations arose a generation later when Weber was enchanted by the clarinet-playing of Heinrich Bärmann and, another generation after that, when Brahms was so inspired by the playing of Richard Mühlfeld as to abandon his decision to retire from composing and to write four last chamber works for his clarinettist “prima donna.”

One thing Mozart particularly liked about Stadler’s clarinet was its specially designed extension, which added two whole tones to the lower range of the standard instrument. It was for the basset clarinet, as it is now called, that Mozart wrote the Concerto and very probably the Quintet too. Even when, as is usually the case, they are performed in the long-established versions for standard clarinet, both works have a special colour deriving from Stadler’s interest in the bottom register (chalumeau) of the instrument.

It is true that in the first movement of the Quintet the melodic interest – when it passes from the strings to the clarinet, or when the clarinet recalls it in the recapitulation – is confined largely to the upper registers of the wind instrument. Most of its bravura arpeggios, however, beginning with its very first entry, start or end in the near the bottom of its range. The most dramatic instance is the series of arpeggios covering three full octaves at the clarinet vies with all four string instruments towards the end of the development section.    As for the singing voice so eulogised by Stadler’s admirer, the Larghetto, including those few moments when darker colours are introduced in a clarinet line dropping down to the bottom register, is unsurpassably eloquent testimony. Interestingly, to preserve the linear integrity of the clarinet part here much of the decorative responsibility falls to the strings, usually first violin but also, in the closing bars, viola and cello.

The role of the clarinet in the Minuetto is comparatively limited. Although it is prominent in introducing the bright melodic material of the minuet itself and the cheerful ländler-style tune of the second of the two trios, it is excluded from the contrastingly sombre first trio in A minor, which is a matter for serious discussion by the strings. None of the four movements is more enterprisingly scored than the last, which so artfully adds a compassionate chalumeau counterpoint to the melancholy viola line in the third variation, so entertainingly calls on the clarinet’s agility in bouncing between registers in the fourth variation and so touchingly recalls its singing voice in the fifth.