Trio in E flat major, K.498 (“Kegelstatt”)

It is true that Mozart enjoyed playing skittles and it is also true that, at least once, he wrote music while doing it. On the other hand, there is no evidence at all, in spite of its “Kegelstatt” (skittle-ground) nickname, that the Trio in E flat was was composed in such circumstances. It is no less interesting, however, for losing the story traditionally attached to it. The score is quite remarkable enough in itself, and not only because of its unprecedented instrumentation for clarinet, viola and piano.

Completed in four or five days, it was probably intended for a Viennese social occasion - perhaps even a skittle party - at which Mozart (with his viola), his clarinettist friend Anton Stadler, and his favourite piano pupil Franziska Jacquin would all be present. This could explain why it has as much in common with the divertimenti as with the piano trios he was working on at much the same time. It opens not with a purposeful Allegro but with an easy-going Andante which assumes a sonata-form shape as if by accident, the clarinet’s charmingly spontaneous variant on the first theme being adopted by general consent as a second subject. While all three instruments are firmly tied down in the Menuetto to another variant of the first theme of the Andante, the central Trio section allows each one to speak freely with its own distinctive voice. The final rondo is even more liberated. The main theme is innocence itself but some of the episodes between its reappearances - including one for a hard-pressed piano and another for a nostalgic viola indulging in a memory of its starring role in the Sinfonia Concertante - are extraordinary inventions.

Although Mozart’s Trio in E flat major, k.498, bears no dedication , it was actually written for one of the composer’s favourite pupils, Franziska Jacquin, and it is very likely that Mozart had himself in mind as violist and Anton Stadler as clarinettist. It is known that the work was written in the short space of time between 1 and 5 August 1786 but it is very doubtful that - as legend has it - Mozart actually worked on the Trio while playing skittles (the German Kegelstatt nickname could well have been mistakenly transferred from the horn Duets, K.487, which Mozart really did write, according to the manuscript, “untern Kegelscheiben” a month earlier).

The two most extraordinary characteristics of the work are the unprecedented combination of instruments and the thematic single-mindedness of the Andante, which exceeds post-Haydn monothematicism almost to the point of pre-Schumann obsession. It could be that the two characteristics are connected. Perhaps Mozart felt that, since they are not the most obviously natural partners, clarinet, viola and piano could at least be integrated thematically, by restricting them all to the one brief but interest subject for discussion.

But then, having avoided the problem of applying this combination to a conventional first movement, and having begun the work with the second movement, Mozart’s caution seems to have disappeared - if, indeed, he wrote the movements in the order in which they now appear. In the Menuetto the three instruments are firmly integrate but in the Trio section Mozart allows each one to speak with its own voice - the plangent appeal of the clarinet, with the agitated reaction of the viola and the terse reply of the piano. Unconventionally, he repeats the Trio conversation in the da capo of the Minuet.

The final rondo is even more liberated. The clarinet introduced the vocal main theme, the viola the characteristically agitated first episode in the relative minor, and the piano varies the themes to suit its own character. They are unanimous only in indulging a liking for A flat major, at least until they join in promoting an inspired coda to end one of the most imaginative and daring movements in Mozart’s chamber music.

It is true that Mozart enjoyed playing skittles. It is also true that, at least once, he wrote music while doing it: according to the manuscript of his horn Duets, K.487, they were put together “untern Kegelscheiben” (while playing skittles). There is no evidence at all, however, in spite of its “Kegelstatt” (skittle-alley) nickname, that the Trio in E flat was was composed in such circumstances. The likelihood is that the skittle associations somehow got transferred to the Trio from the Duets, which were written only a month earlier.

The Trio in E flat is no less interesting for losing the story traditionally attached to it. The score is quite remarkable enough in itself, and not only because of its unprecedented instrumentation for clarinet, viola and piano. Completed in four or five days between 1 and 5 August 1786, it was probably intended for a Viennese social occasion - perhaps even a skittle party - at which Mozart (with his viola), his clarinettist friend Anton Stadler, and his favourite piano pupil Franziska Jacquin would all be present. This could explain why it has as much in common with the divertimenti as with the piano trios he was working on at much the same time. It opens not with a purposeful Allegro but with an easy-going Andante which assumes a sonata-form shape as if by accident, the clarinet’s charmingly spontaneous variant on the first theme being adopted by general consent as a second subject.

While all three instruments are firmly tied down in the Menuetto to another variant of the first theme of the Andante, the central Trio section allows each one to speak with its own voice - the clarinet’s plaintive appeal, the viola’s agitated reaction, the terse comment of the piano. The brief recall of that exchange in the coda of what would otherwise be a literal repeat of the Menuetto is an inspiration as effective as it is understated.

The final rondo is even more liberated. The main theme, introduced in the opening bars by the clarinet, is innocence itself but some of the episodes between its reappearances - including one for a hard-pressed piano and another for a nostalgic viola indulging in a memory of its starring role in the Sinfonia Concertante - are extraordinary inventions.