Mozart String Quartet 20 'Hoffmeister' in D Major (4/5) Adagio

Quatuor Mosaiques
Period Instruments

String Quartet in D Major, K. 499, was written in 1786 in Vienna by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was published by — if not indeed written for — his friend Franz Anton Hoffmeister. Because of this, the quartet has acquired the nickname Hoffmeister.

There are four movements: * I. Allegretto, in D major * II. Menuetto: Allegretto, in D major, with a trio section in D minor * III. Adagio, in G major * IV. Allegro, in D major

This work, sandwiched between the six quartets he dedicated to Joseph Haydn (17825) and the following three Prussian quartets (178990), intended to be dedicated to King Frederick William II of Prussia (the first edition bore no dedication, however), is often polyphonic in a way uncharacteristic of the earlier part of the classical music era. The menuetto and its trio give good examples of this in brief, with the brief irregular near-canon between first violin and viola in the second half of the main portion of the minuet, and the double imitations (between the violins, and between the viola and cello) going on in the trio.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Mozart
• String
• Quartet
• 20
• 'Hoffmeister'
• Adagio
• Quatuor
• Mosaiques
• Period
• Instruments

[spr1ng0ni0n]

@mutewoman I hope you are not deceived by the perfect musical structure that Mozart uses, which might to some sound 'simple' or even 'happy' but is in reality just extremely perfect. I always sense a overly dramatic element in nearly every of Mozart's pieces. It makes me shrink in awe and it gives me a funny kind of blissful feeling. But sorry that's just my opinion. I think everyone should enjoy it their own way!

[xrchz]

this music can make me writhe with pleasure

[mutewoman]

I don't quite get what you mean by heavy though - it kind of sounds lighter on modern instruments, but that's not what you mean, I think....