String Quintet in C major, K.515

No one knows what inspired the first two of Mozarts’ mature string quintets. There is some speculation that they were intended for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the cello-playing King of Prussia. But since he started work on them more than a year after Boccherini had been appointed chamber composer to Friedrich Wilhelm for his skill and industry in furnishing quintets with two cellos, it seems unlikely that these quintets with two violas were written for the same patron.

It is true that the cello has a particularly prominent role in the earlier of the two, in C major K.515, but only in the first movement and even then only in relation to the main theme, which is introduced by the cello in convivial conversation with the first violin in the opening bars. A more significant aspect of Mozart’s reaction to the addition of a second viola to the familiar string-quartet texture is a corresponding expansion in structural dimensions. The exposition of the first movement is one of the longest and richest in any of his sonata-form pieces - the far-reaching consequences of which are examined in fine textural detail and searching harmonies in the development section.

Whichever of the two middle movements comes next (the first edition and the autograph manuscript differ in this respect) the Andante not only represents the heart of the work but also vividly demonstrates why Mozart chose to write quintets with two violas rather than two cellos. Given the presence of a second viola to perform the usual middle-voice duties, the first viola - and the composer must surely have imagined himself in this role - is free to join the first violin in a sublimely spontaneous dialogue. The closing Allegro rondo matches the first movement in structural dimensions and melodic interest while cheerfully avoiding the complexities.

Haydn never wrote a string quintet because, he said, “no one asked” him. It is just possible that, for at least the first two of his four mature masterpieces in the form, Mozart didn’t wait to be asked. There is some speculation that, like the three quartets he was to write after his visit to Berlin in 1789, they were intended for Friedrich Wilhelm II, the cello-playing King of Prussia. But since he started work on them in April 1787, which is more than a year after Boccherini had been appointed chamber composer to Friedrich Wilhelm for his skill and industry in furnishing quintets with two cellos, it seems unlikely that these quintets with two violas were written for the same patron.

It is true that the cello has a particularly prominent role in the earlier of the two, in C major K.515, but only in the first movement and even then only in relation to the main theme, which is introduced by the cello in convivial conversation with the first violin in the opening bars. A more significant aspect of Mozart’s reaction to the addition of a second viola to the familiar string-quartet texture is a corresponding expansion in structural dimensions. The exposition of the first movement is one of the longest and richest in any of his sonata-form pieces - the far-reaching consequences of which are examined in fine textural detail and searching harmonies in the development section.

Whichever of the two middle movements comes next (the first edition and the autograph manuscript differ in this respect) the Andante not only represents the heart of the work but also vividly demonstrates why Mozart chose to write quintets with two violas rather than two cellos. Given the presence of a second viola to perform the usual middle-voice duties, the first viola - and the composer must surely have imagined himself in this role - is free to share with the first violin a dialogue which, because it is so much less formal and so much more spontaneous, is even more sublime than that in the slow movement of the Sinfonia Concertante in E flat K.365. The closing Allegro rondo matches the first movement in structural dimensions and melodic interest while cheerfully avoiding the complexities.