String Quartet in G major, K.156

Bearing in mind that Mozart was sixteen or seventeen when he wrote his first set of string quartets no one would expect them to be in the same league as the ten quartets of his maturity - the earliest of which was written a whole decade later. In fact, they have little in common with the Viennese string quartet that Haydn and Mozart would elevate to the greatest of all forms of chamber music during the course of the next twenty years or so. All six of these early quartets are in three movements rather than four and they are composed in the Italian style, apparently in the manner of Giambattista Sammartini.

Even so, they are unmistakeable Mozart - and not only in their general personality but also in clearly identifiable melodic details. Slow down the opening theme of the Quartet in G major, K.156, for example, and you have something very similar to the theme of the Lacrymosa in the Requiem. Although Mozart does not develop his material as he was to do in his Viennese quartets, the middle section of the movement is remarkable for its curious insistence on a stubborn little motif that invades the ensemble at every level, upsetting the harmonies as it goes.

Except in that peculiar middle section, neither the viola nor the cello has an independent voice in a texture dominated so far by the two violins. The present E-minor Adagio, on the other hand, which replaces an earlier one that looks more like orchestral than chamber music, is almost self-conscious in its delegation of the melodic interest from first violin downwards and its elaborate scoring in solo terms.

There is more late Mozart in the Tempo di Menuetto - an anticipation of one of Despina’s arias in Cosi fan tutte in the cheerful G-major material that surrounds the stealthy exchange of ideas in the wittily scored G-minor middle section.

Bearing in mind that Mozart was sixteen or seventeen when he wrote his first set of String Quartets, K.155-160, no one would expect them to be in the same league as the ten quartets of his maturity - the earliest of which, K.387, was written a whole decade later. In fact, they have little in common with the Viennese string quartet that Haydn and Mozart would elevate to the greatest of all forms of chamber music during the course of the next twenty years or so. All six of these early quartets are in three movements rather than four and - appropriately enough, since Mozart was in Milan when he wrote them - they are composed in the Italian style. The model in this case was Giambattista Sammartini rather than Joseph Haydn, whose quartets Mozart didn’t really get to know until he visited Vienna later in the year.

Even so, they are unmistakeable Mozart, and not only in their general personality but also in clearly identifiable melodic details. Slow down the opening theme of the Quartet in G major, K.156, for example, and you have something very similar to the theme of the Lacrymosa in the Requiem. Although Mozart does not develop his material as he would in his Viennese quartets, the middle section of the movement is remarkable for its curious insistence on a stubborn little motif that invades the ensemble at every level, upsetting the harmonies as it goes.

Except in that peculiar middle section, neither the viola nor the cello has an independent voice in a texture dominated so far by the two violins. It is clear from the slow movement, however, that Mozart was developing a conscience for the integration of all four instruments in the classical chamber-music manner. The present E-minor Adagio, which replaces an earlier one that looks more like orchestral music, is almost self-conscious in its delegation of the melodic interest from first violin downwards and its elaborate scoring in solo terms. It is no less sophisticated in its expressive harmonies and its rhythmic ingenuity.

There is more late Mozart in the Tempo di Menuetto - an anticipation of one of Despina’s arias in Cosi fan tutte in the cheerful G-major material that surrounds the stealthy exchange of ideas in the wittily scored G-minor middle section.

Gerald Larner©2005