Clarinet Quintet (Mozart)
| Clarinet Quintet (Mozart) | |
|---|---|
| Composer, work | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart KV 581 |
| genre | Chamber music |
| Instruments | Clarinet in A, 2 violins, viola and cello |
| nominal key | A major |
| further keys | F sharp minor, D major and C major |
| Year of origin | 1789 |
| Premiere | December 22nd, 1789 in Vienna |
| dedicated | Anton Stadler |
| 1 sentence | Allegro, 4/4 time |
| 2nd movement | Larghetto, 3/4 |
| 3rd movement | Menuetto - Trio I - Trio II, all 3/4 |
| 4th movement | Subject con variazioni, 2/2 |
| Typical duration of performance | 35 minutes with and 22 minutes without repetitions |
| Well-known current interpreters of the clarinet (alphabetically) | Alessandro Carbonare , Jose Franch-Ballester , Martin Fröst , Wenzel Fuchs , Thorsten Johanns, Sharon Kam , Jacques Lancelot , Jan Mach, Sabine Meyer , Annelien Van Wauwe , Vlad Weverbergh, Jörg Widmann |
| Well-known current interpreters of string quartet (alphabetically) | A-Roma Quartet, Armida Quartet, Carmina Quartet , Hagen-Quartet , Morpheus Quartet, Philharmonia Quartet Berlin , Rubin-Quartet, Terra Nova Collective, Tokyo String Quartet , Vertavo Quartet, Zemlinsky Quartet |
| meaning | Masterpiece of chamber music and one of the most important compositions for clarinet |
In 1789, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote the four-movement quintet for clarinet and string quartet in A major, K. 581, the first clarinet quintet , which is considered a masterpiece of chamber music and one of the most important compositions for clarinet.
history
Mozart was a friend and lodge brother of one of the most famous clarinetists of the time, Anton Stadler . For this he wrote a clarinet quintet in 1789.
Mozart wrote the quintet not for a normal (soprano) clarinet, but for a clarinet co-developed by Stadler, which is now called the basset clarinet and is characterized by the fact that it is not only (notated) down to the small E, but the small one C is enough, i.e. a minor third lower, which is why its lower section is about 18 cm longer than that of the normal A clarinet. It was on such an instrument that it was premiered on December 22nd, 1789 by the Vienna Tonkünstler Society with Stadler as the soloist.
The Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra KV 622, composed two years later, was also written for basset clarinet. But since this type of clarinet could not establish itself in the clarinet family, both works were rewritten at the beginning of the 19th century so that they could be played on the normal A clarinet. Unfortunately, the original scores and copies were lost. From around the middle of the 20th century, various clarinetists made attempts to reconstruct the original scores. So today both works are performed in one version as well as the other.
structure
The work consists of the following four movements and, with the intended repetitions, has a performance duration of between 31 and 38 minutes, usually around 35 minutes, or about 13 minutes less if the repetitions are omitted.
1st movement: Allegro , A major, 197 bars, with bars 1 to 79 being repeated first and bars 80 to 197 later. This movement shows the typical sonata form with exposition, development and recapitulation.
2nd movement: Larghetto , D major, 85 bars
3rd movement: Menuetto with Trio I in A minor and Trio II in A major, 31 + 41 + 51 bars. Here, too, the individual sections are repeated.
4th movement: Allegretto con variazioni , A major (Variation III in C major). The presentation of the theme with 16 bars is followed by four variations with three times 16 and one time 20 bars. This is followed by two essentially independent small movements: an Adagio with 21 bars and an Allegro with 36 bars. Repeat the individual sections here as well.
meeting
Large parts of the entire work exude calm and serenity. At the same time it is characterized by sudden transitions from cheerful and melancholy, but also from sublime and popular passages as well as harmonies and dissonances. In terms of interpretation, it presents the musicians, especially the clarinetists, with extraordinary challenges. "It is actually a completely serene piece, of a beauty that you cannot grasp, that is difficult to produce even as an interpreter inasmuch as you have to play unconsciously ..."
1 sentence
The movement begins with a calm string theme, which the clarinet answers with fast arabesques, phrased unevenly: six bars for the strings and only two for the clarinet. In the recapitulation, on the other hand, the clarinet takes up the pizzicato secondary theme of the 1st violin in a romantic minor key. In the development, Mozart lets all instruments emerge as soloists, while in the recapitulation he brilliantly mediates between the concertante demands of the clarinet and the openwork work of the string quartet.
Following the first theme, the clarinet and cello sequence a chain of appoggiatures in an auxiliary thought ( Arnold Schönberg ), from which a powerful impulse leads to the secondary theme at the end.
2nd movement
In the first 20 bars the clarinet plays one of the most intimate melodies that we know from Mozart, with the subtle accompaniment of the strings. The point at which, after a development with thirty-second notes rising upwards in scale figures, the quartet suddenly falls silent in bar 49 and gives the clarinetist the opportunity for a short cadenza, which at the end he converts back into the opening melody in pianissimo and dolce to call "beautiful to cry". When Mozart wrote the concerto for clarinet and orchestra two years later, he evidently found himself unable to write a congenial second movement for it, and therefore took over the larghetto as an adagio with minor modifications in the concerto.
Sequences that are (can) be perceived as particularly “beautiful” also exist in the other sentences. Arnold Schönberg, who, like Richard Strauss , dealt with the work, speaks of “subcutaneous” beauties, that is, those that get under the skin or that lie beneath the surface.
3rd movement
The minuet is an extremely light and airy structure with fine counterpoint. Trio I, written in minor and dominated by a melancholy mood, proves to be a pure string quartet - with extreme dissonances and hidden artistic techniques, while Trio II, again in major, lets a Länders play the clarinet.
4th movement
The theme comes to be varied in a dance rhythm Gavotte therefore reminiscent of the later resulting melodies Pagagenos from The Magic Flute. As in the first movement, Mozart lets each instrument come out with a solo and in this way also ensures a balanced ratio of clarinet and strings and a common music-making that all instrumentalists enjoy. "The climax of the movement is the Adagiovaration, a broad chant, at the end of which time seems to stand still for some wonderful chords, before the last variation turns into a snappy sweep."
Web links
- Video 1st movement onYouTube,2nd movement; 3rd movement,4th movement- interpreted by Vlad Weverbergh (historical basset clarinet) and the Terra Nova Collective