Haydn Quartets (Mozart)
Encyclopedia
The "Haydn" Quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
are a set of six string quartet
s published in 1785 in Vienna
, dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn
. They are considered to be the pinnacle of Classical
string quartet writing, containing some of Mozart's most memorable melodic writing and refined compositional thought.
The quartets were published in a set in Vienna, 1785. Dates of composition are shown in parentheses above.
composed 23 string quartets during his life. The six "Haydn" Quartets were written in Vienna
during the years 1782 to 1785. They are dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn
, who is considered the creator of the modern string quartet. Haydn had recently completed his influential "Opus 33
" set of quartets in 1781, the year that Mozart arrived in Vienna. Mozart studied Haydn's string quartets and began composing this set of six, which were published in 1785. During this time, Haydn and Mozart had become friends, and sometimes played quartets together in Mozart's apartment, with Mozart playing the viola
, and Haydn playing violin
.; see Haydn and Mozart
.
Haydn first heard the quartets at two gatherings at Mozart's home, 15 January and 12 February, 1785 (on these occasions he apparently just listened, rather than playing a part himself). After hearing them all, Haydn made a now-famous remark to Mozart's father Leopold
, who was visiting from Salzburg: "Before God, and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition." The comment was preserved in a letter Leopold wrote 16 February to his daughter Nannerl
.
and cello
. Its function was designed for private or semi-private performances in the aristocratic salon or middle-class parlor.
The form of the "Haydn" Quartets follows the standard set by Haydn in the 1770’s. At this time, the quartet began to consistently have four movements, like the symphony
form. The basic form of the six "Haydn" Quartets is as follows, with the second and third movements interchangeable in different works:
The slow movement of these works, found in either the second or third movements, are highlighted as the "emotional center" of each quartet. They feature rich cantabile
melodic writing with thematic multiplicity and embellishment that displays a departure from the Haydnesque mode.
The quartets also feature a wide range of emotional content from the Sturm und Drang
of No. 15 in D minor, to the tonal mysteriousness of the openings of No. 16 in E-flat major, and No. 19 in C major, the "Dissonance", and then to the opera buffa
styled light-heartedness in the finale of No. 17 in B-flat major, the "Hunt".
Giuseppe Sarti
later published an attack against the "Dissonance" quartet, describing sections as "barbarous", "execrable", and "miserable" in its use of whole-tone clusters and chromatic extremes. Around this same time, Fétis printed a revision of the opening of the "Dissonance" quartet, implying that Mozart had made errors. When the publishers, Artaria
, sent the quartets to Italy for publication, they were returned with the report "the engraving is full of mistakes". However, Heinrich Christoph Koch noted that these works were praiseworthy for "their mixture of strict and free styles and the treatment of harmony". Favorable reports of the quartets came soon after their publication from newspapers in Salzburg
and Berlin
. In the early 19th century, Jérome-Joseph Momigny wrote an extended analysis of No. 15 in D minor, K. 421. Momigny used the setting of text based on Dido's Lament
to discuss the emotional and expressive qualities of the first movement of this work.
These works stand as some of Mozart’s most famous works. They are considered "established keystones" of the chamber music repertoire and are heard frequently in concerts, radio broadcasts, and recordings.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
are a set of six string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s published in 1785 in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
. They are considered to be the pinnacle of Classical
Classical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
string quartet writing, containing some of Mozart's most memorable melodic writing and refined compositional thought.
The six quartets
- String Quartet No. 14String Quartet No. 14 (Mozart)The String Quartet No. 14 in G major, K. 387, nicknamed the "Spring" quartet, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1782 while in Vienna. In the composer's inscription on the title page of the autograph score is stated: "li 31 di decembre 1782 in vienna". The work was perhaps edited in 1783...
in G majorG majorG major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...
, K. 387 (1782) - String Quartet No. 15String Quartet No. 15 (Mozart)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 15 in D minor K. 421/417b, the second of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn and the only one of the set in a minor key, is believed to have been completed in 1783. The quartet is, however, undated in the autograph....
in D minorD minorD minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....
, K. 421 (1783) - String Quartet No. 16String Quartet No. 16 (Mozart)The String Quartet No. 16 in E flat major, K. 428/421b, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This is the third of the Haydn Quartets, a set of six string quartets he wrote during his first few years in Vienna and later dedicated to Joseph Haydn....
in E-flat major, K. 428 (1783) - String Quartet No. 17String Quartet No. 17 (Mozart)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat major K. 458, nicknamed "The Hunt," is the fourth of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn. It was completed in 1784 It is in four movements:# Allegro vivace assai# Menuetto and Trio...
in B flat majorB flat majorB major or B-flat major is a major scale based on B-flat, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats, B/E .Its relative minor is G minor, and its parallel minor is B minor....
("Hunt"), K. 458 (1784) - String Quartet No. 18String Quartet No. 18 (Mozart)Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 18 in A major K. 464, the fifth of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn, was completed in 1785 Mozart's autograph catalogue states as the date of composition "1785. / the 10th January"...
in A majorA majorA major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps.Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor...
, K. 464 (1785) - String Quartet No. 19String Quartet No. 19 (Mozart)The String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, KV. 465 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, nicknamed "Dissonance" on account of its unusual slow introduction, is perhaps the most famous of his quartets...
in C majorC majorC major is a musical major scale based on C, with pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. Its key signature has no flats/sharps.Its relative minor is A minor, and its parallel minor is C minor....
("Dissonance"), K. 465 (1785)
The quartets were published in a set in Vienna, 1785. Dates of composition are shown in parentheses above.
Historical background
Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
composed 23 string quartets during his life. The six "Haydn" Quartets were written in Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
during the years 1782 to 1785. They are dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
, who is considered the creator of the modern string quartet. Haydn had recently completed his influential "Opus 33
String Quartets, Op. 33 (Haydn)
The Op. 33 String Quartets were written by Joseph Haydn in the summer and Autumn of 1781 for the Viennese publisher Artaria. This set of quartets has several nicknames, the most common of which is the "Russian" quartets, because Haydn dedicated the quartets to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia and...
" set of quartets in 1781, the year that Mozart arrived in Vienna. Mozart studied Haydn's string quartets and began composing this set of six, which were published in 1785. During this time, Haydn and Mozart had become friends, and sometimes played quartets together in Mozart's apartment, with Mozart playing the viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, and Haydn playing violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
.; see Haydn and Mozart
Haydn and Mozart
The composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn were friends. Their relationship is not very well documented, but the evidence that they enjoyed each other's company and greatly respected each other's work is strong.-Background:...
.
Haydn first heard the quartets at two gatherings at Mozart's home, 15 January and 12 February, 1785 (on these occasions he apparently just listened, rather than playing a part himself). After hearing them all, Haydn made a now-famous remark to Mozart's father Leopold
Leopold Mozart
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. Mozart is best known today as the father and teacher of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and for his violin textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.-Childhood and student years:He was born in Augsburg, son of...
, who was visiting from Salzburg: "Before God, and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and, what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition." The comment was preserved in a letter Leopold wrote 16 February to his daughter Nannerl
Maria Anna Mozart
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart , nicknamed "Nannerl", was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and daughter of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart.-Childhood:...
.
The dedication
Mozart’s published dedication page (Sept. 1, 1785):- To my dear friend Haydn,
- A father who had resolved to send his children out into the great world took it to be his duty to confide them to the protection and guidance of a very celebrated Man, especially when the latter by good fortune was at the same time his best Friend. Here they are then, O great Man and dearest Friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day. You, yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last Visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favour. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend! From this moment I resign to you all my rights in them, begging you however to look indulgently upon the defects which the partiality of a Father’s eye may have concealed from me, and in spite of them to continue in your generous Friendship for him who so greatly values it, in expectation of which I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend,
- W.A. Mozart
Form and content
The Classical string quartet form was created by Joseph Haydn in the late 1750s. He is described as the "father" of the string quartet because in his total of sixty-eight quartets he developed this genre into its first maturity. The string quartet features four parts for two violins, violaViola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
. Its function was designed for private or semi-private performances in the aristocratic salon or middle-class parlor.
The form of the "Haydn" Quartets follows the standard set by Haydn in the 1770’s. At this time, the quartet began to consistently have four movements, like the symphony
Symphony
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, scored almost always for orchestra. A symphony usually contains at least one movement or episode composed according to the sonata principle...
form. The basic form of the six "Haydn" Quartets is as follows, with the second and third movements interchangeable in different works:
- First movement: Allegro in sonata form
- Second movement: Adagio or Andante in sonata form
- Third movement: Minuetto and Trio
- Fourth movement: Allegro in sonata, rondo, or variation form
The slow movement of these works, found in either the second or third movements, are highlighted as the "emotional center" of each quartet. They feature rich cantabile
Cantabile
Cantabile is a musical term meaning literally "singable" or "songlike" . It has several meanings in different contexts. In instrumental music, it indicates a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th century composers, the term is often used synonymously with...
melodic writing with thematic multiplicity and embellishment that displays a departure from the Haydnesque mode.
The quartets also feature a wide range of emotional content from the Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang
Sturm und Drang is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music taking place from the late 1760s through the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism...
of No. 15 in D minor, to the tonal mysteriousness of the openings of No. 16 in E-flat major, and No. 19 in C major, the "Dissonance", and then to the opera buffa
Opera buffa
Opera buffa is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ‘commedia in musica’, ‘commedia per musica’, ‘dramma bernesco’, ‘dramma comico’, ‘divertimento giocoso' etc...
styled light-heartedness in the finale of No. 17 in B-flat major, the "Hunt".
Critical reception
Early reception of the "Haydn" Quartets was both enthusiastic and disgruntled. An anonymous early reviewer, writing in Cramer's Magazin der Musik in 1789, gave a judgment characteristic of reaction to Mozart's music at the time, namely that the works were inspired, but too complex and difficult to enjoy:- Mozart's works do not in general please quite so much as [as those of KozeluchLeopold KozeluchLeopold Kozeluch was a Czech composer and teacher of classical music. He was born in the town of Velvary, in Bohemia .-Life:...
] ... [Mozart's] six quartets for violins, viola, and bass dedicated to Haydn confirm ... that he has a decided leaning towards the difficult and the unusual. But then, what great and elevated ideas he has too, testifying to a bold spirit!
Giuseppe Sarti
Giuseppe Sarti
Giuseppe Sarti was an Italian opera composer.-Biography:He was born at Faenza. His date of birth is not known, but he was baptised on 1 December 1729. Some earlier sources say he was born on 28 December, but his baptism certificate proves the later date impossible...
later published an attack against the "Dissonance" quartet, describing sections as "barbarous", "execrable", and "miserable" in its use of whole-tone clusters and chromatic extremes. Around this same time, Fétis printed a revision of the opening of the "Dissonance" quartet, implying that Mozart had made errors. When the publishers, Artaria
Artaria
Artaria and company was one of the most important music publishing firms of the late 18th and 19th century. Founded in the 18th century in Vienna, the company is associated with many leading names of the classical era.- History :...
, sent the quartets to Italy for publication, they were returned with the report "the engraving is full of mistakes". However, Heinrich Christoph Koch noted that these works were praiseworthy for "their mixture of strict and free styles and the treatment of harmony". Favorable reports of the quartets came soon after their publication from newspapers in Salzburg
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
and Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. In the early 19th century, Jérome-Joseph Momigny wrote an extended analysis of No. 15 in D minor, K. 421. Momigny used the setting of text based on Dido's Lament
Dido's lament
"Dido's Lament" is the commonly-used name for the noted aria, "When I am laid in earth", from the opera, Dido and Aeneas, by Henry Purcell ....
to discuss the emotional and expressive qualities of the first movement of this work.
These works stand as some of Mozart’s most famous works. They are considered "established keystones" of the chamber music repertoire and are heard frequently in concerts, radio broadcasts, and recordings.