Tune in every day, Mon-Fri, for a different quartet at 1PM.

Written from 1782-85 in Vienna, Mozart wrote a set of six string quartets dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn. They're considered to be the pinnacle of Classical string quartet writing, containing some of Mozart's most memorable melodic writing and refined compositional thought.

Now, since there are only 5 days in the week, we will hear just the first five. Perhaps we can convince host Chris Wolf to sneak in the 6th???

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.

Haydn first heard the quartets at two gatherings at Mozart's home, January 15 and February 12 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 February 16 to his daughter Nannerl.

Mozart's published dedication page (1 Sept. 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

 

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 those of Kozeluch] ... [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 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, Jérôme-Joseph de 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.

 

Interesting Fact . . . . . What's in a name?

Mozart's Baptismal name was Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. But sometimes Wolfgang would play with his name and do it backwards: Mozart Wolfgang -or- Trazom. When in Italy he called himself "Wolfgango Amadeo" and "Wolfgang Amadè."

Admedus, the Latinization of his middle name, Theophilus, didn't hit common usage until about 1810. Some historians also use the Germanic version of Thephilus, "Gottlieb."

In the 1984 film starring F. Murray Abraham and Tom Dulce, the nickname "Wolfie" is used often. Keeping in mind that Mozart was German, "-erl" is the affectionate suffix in German. When Mozart was a child, he was called Wolferl and his sister was called Nannerl.