String Quintet in E flat major K614 (1791)

The last of Mozart’s string quintets is generally considered to be far from his best. Certainly, it is shorter and less thoughtful than the masterpieces in C major and G minor from four years earlier, but it wasn’t conceived with the same priorities in mind. Like Die Zauberflöte written at much the same time, the Quintet in E flat is a frankly popular conception and, as such, entirely successful in its execution. The breezy outdoor sound of the two violas in sixths at the beginning of the first movement and at many other points thereafter, the captivating variations in rondo form in the Andante (on a theme not unlike that of “Wenn der Freude Tränen fliessen” in Die Entführung), the delightful country-dance middle section of the Menuetto, the brilliantly witty combination of fugue and sonata form in the closing Allegro, all these features represent a composer reassuringly at ease with himself if not a the height of his ambition.