Mozart’s C major Viola Quintet is among the very greatest of his chamber music masterpieces. The possibilities of adding one extra voice to a string quartet clearly interested the composer in his late years, perhaps because of the increase in contrapuntal opportunity, perhaps because Mozart himself played the viola; in any case, he wrote four major works for viola quintet during this period, and established the genre for posterity.
The first movement celebrates instantly the “five-ness” of the quintet with an idea that progresses in five-bar periods, keeping to this pattern for quite a while; this not only creates a wonderful, persistent asymmetry, but augurs the entire work’s commitment to surprising and irregular phrase lengths.
The Minuet employs a teasing device: a melody which crescendos to a surprising subito piano, then on its second attempt attains the forte it was aiming for. This is the first of several dynamic surprises, which crop up everywhere in the movement, an idée fixe of sorts.
The Trio, unusually, shifts to F major – modulating beyond the parallel major or minor key is uncommon for Trios of this period – and, as if aware of having strayed too far, seems often unsure of itself: instead of a flowing melody, the main idea is a hesitating two-note motif, and the key of F major is only firmly established near the very end of the section.
The slow movement takes the form of a tender duet between the first violin and first viola, as Mozart focuses on the orchestrational symmetry of the quintet. Here we have very much the reverse of the teasing, hesitating Minuet: rather, songful continuity is the rule, and as soon as one instrument pauses for breath, the line is taken up by another. All the elements of opera aria are here, beautiful melodic contour richly adorned with ornaments and arabesques.
In the Finale, Mozart’s operatic genius again springs to mind, but now the mood is decidedly buffa. Effervescent and humorous, the five parts are sometimes united festively, sometimes scurrying about conspiratorially, handing messages back and forth. As in the first movement, the idea of a confident momentum brought to a sudden stop is explored.
Here’s the music:
