The Chamber Music of Mozart - An Exploration

Category: Lecture
Language: English
Keywords: Music Robert Greenberg ttc
Written by Robert Greenberg,
Format: MP3

What made Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart perhaps the most complete “musical package” in history—a man who created more masterpieces of virtually every musical genre of his day than any other composer before or since?

There is perhaps no better way to explore this question than by studying his chamber music. Nowhere is Mozart’s maturity and mastery more apparent than in the chamber music he wrote during the last 10 years of his life.

Hear, Study, and Enjoy “A Blessing of Inconceivable Richness”

This is an opportunity to study and enjoy a variety of chamber works drawn primarily from Mozart’s “golden years” in Vienna, 1781–1791. The centerpiece of the course is the set of six Haydn string quartets that Mozart dedicated to his friend, the great Joseph Haydn. Across the span of the course, you will explore works that represent the three types of chamber music that Mozart composed:

Any chamber group consisting, in whole or in part, of a string quartet: two violins, a viola, and a cello.
The “piano plus” combination: works for keyboard and some other instrument or instruments.
Everything else: combinations that employ neither a string quartet nor a piano.

Professor Robert Greenberg collectively refers to these chamber works as “a blessing of inconceivable richness.” The following are a few of the masterpieces he discusses:

String Quartet in G Major, K. 387. The first of Mozart’s Haydn Quartets, this is a miracle of technique, taste and imagination, part-writing, and perfect proportions.
Quintet in E-flat Major for Piano, Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, and Bassoon, K. 452. This is one of the great masterworks of the chamber repertoire; as brilliant an example of instrumentation and part-writing as ever written.
Piano Quartet in G Minor, K. 478, and Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, K. 493. These pieces display a grandness of conception that reflects the symphony hall as much as it does the chamber music salon. They are among Professor Greenberg’s favorite pieces of music: “real desert island stuff.”
String Quartet in C Major, K. 465. This Dissonant Quartet is the last of the Haydn Quartets. Its introduction combines so many dissonant elements that it sparked an ongoing controversy about whether the music might have been misprinted.
Adagio in C Minor, and Rondo in C Major for Glass Harmonica Quintet, K. 617. An odd and wonderful piece, this is the last chamber music Mozart composed. Its haunting quality distinguishes it from almost anything else in Mozart’s chamber music repertoire.

16 Lectures
45 minutes / lecture

1 A Blessing of Inconceivable Richness
2 “The Hunt”
3 “The Hunt,” Part 2
4 The Flute Quartet in D Major
5 Vienna
6 Haydn and Inspiration
7 Exclusively For His Friends
8 Duos For Violin and Viola
9 Not Just a Pretty Face
10 Blowin’ in the Winds
11 The Piano Trios
12 The Piano Quartets
13 String Quartet in A Major, K. 464
14 The String Quintets
15 Dissonance—Musical and Financial
16 Basset Horns and Harmonicas