Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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...

's Piano Quartet No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 493, was written after Franz Anton Hoffmeister

Franz Anton Hoffmeister

Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a German composer and music publisher.Born in Rottenburg am Neckar, he went to Vienna at the age of fourteen to study law...

 released Mozart from the obligation of writing three piano quartets.

Composition and reception

Mozart received a commission for three quartets in 1785

1785 in music

-Events:*Composer Supply Belcher settles in Maine.*Violinist Regina Strinasacchi marries Johann Conrad Schlick, cellist & konzertmeister of the Gotha ducal band.*Joseph Haydn premieres the first of his Paris symphonies on commission from Count d'Ogny...

 from the publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister

Franz Anton Hoffmeister

Franz Anton Hoffmeister was a German composer and music publisher.Born in Rottenburg am Neckar, he went to Vienna at the age of fourteen to study law...

. Hoffmeister thought the G minor Quartet

Piano Quartet No. 1 (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478, is considered the first major piece composed for piano quartet in the chamber music repertoire.-Composition and reception:...

 (K. 478) was too difficult and that the public would not buy it, so he released Mozart from the obligation of completing the set. Nine months later, Mozart composed this quartet anyway..

Movements

The work is in three movements:

• I. Allegro, common time
  Time signature
  The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
  
  
• II. Larghetto, 3/8, A-flat major
• III. Allegretto, cut time

Editions and versions

The C. F. Peters Edition

Edition Peters

Edition Peters, also known as C.F.Peters Musikverlag, is a German music publishing house, founded in Leipzig in 1800.From the 1860s it was largely run by members the Hinrichsen family, who were Jewish. The company was confiscated by the Nazis and administered by the "Trustee of Jewish Property"....

 set of parts has rehearsal letter

Rehearsal letter

A rehearsal letter is a boldface letter of the alphabet in an orchestral score, and its corresponding parts, that provides a convenient spot from which to resume rehearsal after a break. Rehearsal letters are most often used in scores of the Romantic era, beginning with Louis Spohr...

s throughout the whole work; the Eulenburg Edition

Ernst Eulenburg (musical editions)

Ernst Eulenburg the music publisher was established by Ernst Eulenburg in Leipzig in 1874. The firm started by publishing a series of studies by a Dresden piano teacher, and then expanded into light music and works for men's chorus, at first all non-copyright works.-Origins of the miniature...

 study score has measure numbers but no rehearsal letters, the same goes for Bärenreiter

Bärenreiter

Bärenreiter is a German classical music publishing house based in Kassel. The firm was founded by Karl Vötterle in Augsburg in 1923, and moved to Kassel in 1927, where it still maintains headquarters; it also has offices in Basel, London, New York and Prague...

.

Discography

Before CDs, almost all repeats were ignored to bring the whole piece at about 24 minutes in duration, thus allowing it to fit on one side of a phonograph record; the other side could then have the K. 478 at about 22 minutes (with repeats also ignored). Now with CDs, obeying all repeats brings the piece to about 36 minutes.

Alfred Brendel

Alfred Brendel

Alfred Brendel KBE is an Austrian pianist, born in Czechoslovakia and a resident of the United Kingdom. He is also a poet and author.-Biography:...

 has recorded this work with members of the Alban Berg Quartet

Alban Berg Quartet

The Alban Berg Quartett was a string quartet founded in Vienna, Austria in 1970, named after the famous composer Alban Berg.-Members:- Beginnings :...

 (without second violinist Gerhard Schulz

Gerhard Schulz

Gerhard Schulz is a German equestrian who competed in the sport of eventing.He was born in Hartensdorf, Brandenburg. He won the bronze medal at the 1964 Summer Olympics. He competed for the SC Dynamo Hoppegarten/Sportvereinigung Dynamo.- References :...

); the Angel Records disc includes Brendel and the quartet playing the Piano Concerto in A major

Piano Concerto No. 12 (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414 was written in the autumn of 1782 in Vienna. It is scored for solo piano, two oboes, two bassoons , two horns, and strings...

, K. 414.

However, it is far more common to pair this Quartet with the K. 478 Quartet; to give two examples: the Hyperion CD with Paul Lewis and the Leopold String Trio, and the Naxos recording by the Menuhin Festival Piano Quartet. The CBS Masterworks recording with Yo-Yo Ma, Jaime Laredo, Isaac Stern and Emanuel Ax, in addition to the two Quartets, also includes the Kegelstatt Trio

Kegelstatt Trio

The Kegelstatt Trio , also referred to as the Trio for Clarinet, Viola and Piano in E-flat, is a classical chamber music composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.-History:...

, K. 498.