Clarinet Quintet (Mozart)
Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581, was written in 1789 for the clarinetist Anton Stadler. It was Mozart's only clarinet quintet, and one of the earliest, and best known works written especially for the instrument. It remains exceptionally popular today due to its lyrical melodies, with the second movement the best known.
The composer indicated that the work was finished on 29 September 1789. This quintet is sometimes referred to as the Stadler Quintet; Mozart so described it in a letter of April 1790.
Structure
It consists of four movements:
- Allegro in A major and common time
- Larghetto in D major and 3:4 time
- Menuetto in A major and 3:4 time - Trio I in A minor - Trio II in A major
- Allegretto con Variazioni in A major and common time
First movement
The first movement sets the mood for the entire piece. It has beautiful moving lines in all of the parts and in the second half there is a virtuoso run that is passed throughout the strings, based on material from the second section of the exposition. (Quarter note=110-140).
Second movement
The second movement, in a sonata form with a six-bar transition in place of a central development section, opposes a first section which is mostly a long-breathed clarinet melody over muted strings, to a second group of themes in which - as in the first movement - several upward runs of scales are given to the first violin, alternating with brief phrases of clarinet melody. These scales are given to the clarinet in the recapitulation, and then in the last few bars of the movement, more chromatic than the rest, the scales turn into triplet arpeggios traded between the strings under the closing clarinet phrases.
Third movement
The first trio of the third movement is for the strings alone, with a theme that has a signature acciaccatura every few notes. The second trio is a clarinet solo over the strings, whereas in the minuet the roles were distributed more evenly.
Fourth movement
The finale has five variations. The theme is in two repeated halves, with the clarinet joining in but only for a few of its bars. As often with Mozart, phrase structure is generally the same throughout the variations even if other qualities change- the theme consists of four four-bar phrases (Mozart is often more irregular in his phrasing than this), the first going harmonically from A to E, the second back from E to A, etc. ... and likewise with the variations.
The first of its variations gives the clarinet a new theme, in counterpoint with the theme of the variations divided amongst the quartet. The second alternates phrases for quartet only with phrases for full quintet, the latter answering the former. The third, in A minor, also begins without clarinet, with a viola melody- also with signature acciaccatura- but the clarinet joins in to finish. The major mode returns for the fourth variation, as does the main theme to the accompaniment of semiquaver virtuosity - given to the clarinet only in the first repeated half, first violin and clarinet in the second. There are four bars of dramatic interruption leading to a pause; the next variation is a lyrical Adagio. A transition brings us to an Allegro coda, containing much of a variation itself.
Analysis
There are a number of similarities between this quintet and Mozart's Clarinet Concerto. Both are in the same key of A major for the same soloist, Anton Stadler. Both pieces are written for the basset clarinet which has an extended lower range. Also, the first theme of the first movement of each piece begins with a falling major third. Also, both the second movements are in the same key (D major) and have similar character, although they have different tempo markings. There is a direct quotation of two bars in the clarinet line in the second movemnt of the Concerto of that in the Quintet.
Mozart also wrote a trio for clarinet, viola and piano for Stadler, the so-called Kegelstatt Trio, in 1786.
Alfred Einstein (Mozart: His Character and Work, page 194) notes that while the clarinet "predominates as primus inter pares" (first amongst equals) this is nonetheless "chamber-music work of the finest kind" and the roles are distributed more equally than they would be in a more concertante quintet for wind and strings.
Popular culture
To American audiences, the piece is probably best known from the final episode of M*A*S*H ("Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen"). In this episode, Dr. Winchester befriended a rag-tag bunch of Chinese musicians and taught them to play this piece. However, he later saw all the musicians killed and as a result, classical music, his number one solace during the war, became unpalatable to him.
References
Einstein, Alfred. translated by Mendel, A. and Broder, N. Mozart, his character, his work. Dover Publications paperback 1972 republication of 1945 Oxford University Press edition . ISBN 0-486-22859-2.