Oboe Quartet (Mozart)

Structure#

This piece is a work of chamber music, but it has elements that harken to other musical genres, and requires a fair amount of virtuosity. Because of its large amount of virtuosic playing on the part of the oboe and the large degree to which the strings simply accompany the oboist, it almost resembles a concerto, but with only four players instead of an entire orchestra. Despite this, there are also a number of places within the work that require ensemble playing, for example, the famous 13-bar passage in the finale in which the oboe plays in cut time against a 6/8 accompaniment. There are three movements: A performance takes around 15 minutes.

References#

Notes Sources * * * *

Further reading#

• • • • *, Christopher Hogwood, Gresham College, 21 February 2012 *

External links#

• “Work details, sound example”, Köchel-Verzeichnis, International Mozarteum Foundation
• “Quartet for Oboe & Strings K. 370”, All About Mozart
• , Laila Storch (oboe), Veda Reynolds (violin), Alan Iglitzin (viola) and Charles Brennand (cello)