The six string quartets,
K. 155–160, were composed by
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
in late 1772 and early 1773 when Mozart was sixteen and seventeen years of age. Because they were composed in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
while he was working on his opera
Lucio Silla
''Lucio Silla'' (), K. 135, is an Italian opera seria in three acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the age of 16. The libretto was written by Giovanni de Gamerra, revised by Pietro Metastasio.
It was first performed on 26 December 1772 a ...
, they are popularly known as the Milanese Quartets. Before this set was composed, Mozart had written one earlier
string quartet
The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...
(
K. 80/73f in 1770), so these six quartets are ordinally numbered from No. 2 to No. 7. The quartets are written in a plan of keys of D-G-C-F-B-E following the
circle of fifths
In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval ...
.
All six quartets have only three movements. Four of the quartets (K. 156-159) have middle movements in the minor mode, one of which (that of K. 159) is, unusually, not a slow movement, but a fiery sonata-allegro. The finales are generally lightweight, usually
minuet
A minuet (; also spelled menuet) is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in time. The English word was adapted from the Italian ''minuetto'' and the French ''menuet''.
The term also describes the musical form that accompa ...
s or
rondo
The rondo is an instrumental musical form introduced in the Classical period.
Etymology
The English word ''rondo'' comes from the Italian form of the French ''rondeau'', which means "a little round".
Despite the common etymological root, rondo ...
s.
[Heartz, Daniel, ''Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School, 1740-1780''. W.W. Norton & Company (), pp. 561–562 (1995).]
The sixth edition of the
Köchel catalogue
The Köchel catalogue (german: Köchel-Verzeichnis, links=no) is a chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, originally created by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, in which the entries are abbreviated ''K.'', or ''KV''. The nu ...
, published in 1964, amended the catalogue numbers of the first two quartets to K. 134a and 134b, respectively, and the last quartet to K. 159a.
The Six Milanese Quartets
Quartet No. 2 in D major, K. 155 (K. 134a)
Written in the autumn of 1772 in
Bolzano
Bolzano ( or ; german: Bozen, (formerly ); bar, Bozn; lld, Balsan or ) is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third la ...
.
#''Allegro''
#''Andante''
#''Molto allegro''
Quartet No. 3 in G major, K. 156 (K. 134b)
Written at the end of 1772 in Milan.
#''Presto''
#''Adagio''
#''Tempo di minuetto''
Quartet No. 4 in C major, K. 157
Written at the end of 1772 in Milan and premiered in early 1773.
#''Allegro''
#''Andante''
#''Presto''
Quartet No. 5 in F major, K. 158
Written and premiered in early 1773 in Milan.
#''Allegro''
#''Andante un poco allegretto''
#''Tempo di minuetto''
Quartet No. 6 in B flat major, K. 159
Written and premiered in early 1773 in Milan.
#''Andante''
#''Allegro''
#''Rondo''
Quartet No. 7 in E flat major, K. 160 (K. 159a)
Written and premiered in early 1773 in Milan. The second movement is remarkable for its non-tonic openin
#''Allegro''
#''Un poco adagio''
#''Presto''
Notes
External links
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String quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
1772 compositions
1773 compositions
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