The Quintet in G minor, K. 516, carries the date 16th May 1787 and was written during the period of the final illness of Mozart’s father, who died in Salzburg on 28th May. It is the most heartfelt of the string quintets composed in a key that had had strong associations for Mozart of anxiety, desperation, and confrontations with anguish.
The work begins with restless, yet quiet agitation. The brooding opening theme, a succession of sighing broken phrases is heard initially from the first violin, accompanied by second violin and first viola and then with a deepened sense of fatalism from the first viola, accompanied by the second viola and cello.
The second movement, Menuetto: Allegretto, is a long way removed from a courtly dance. Maintaining the dark mood, violent chords on what should be a weak beat of the bar are answered by silence on the ensuing strong beats. This is a defiant proclamation, hardly a dance.
The central trio, in the key of G major key, brings some relief, but the return of the minuetto closes the movement on a bleak note.
The third movement, Adagio ma non troppo, in E flat major, is a languid, tender song that floats softly on muted strings in an expression of sadness.
But just then Mozart unexpectedly launches into the G major Allegro, which creates a stark contrast and seems entirely untouched by the dark sentiments of the movements that preceded it.
A skipping rondo melody recurs several times alternating with episodes that maintain the bright mood. Critics have often questioned how such a carefree finale could belong to a work whose other movements are an expression of such intense pathos.
Listen now to this music by Mozart:
