String Quintet No. 3 (Mozart)

Movements#

The work is in standard four movement form, though published with the middle movements in reverse order, the Minuet movement preceding the ‘slow’ movement: Mozart’s final intentions on movement order are not entirely known, and both orders are common amongst chamber musicians. The first movement is massive in scope. Indeed, it is the largest “sonata-allegro” movement before Beethoven, usually taking about a quarter of an hour to perform.

Influence#

This quintet inspired Schubert to write his own string quintet in the same key (his scoring involves two cellos rather than two violas as in Mozart’s quintet). The opening theme of Schubert’s work retained many of the characteristics of Mozart’s opening theme, such as decorative turns, irregular phrase lengths, and rising staccato arpeggios (the latter appear only in Schubert’s recapitulation). The influence can also be found in Johann Nepomuk Hummel’s Bassoon Concerto in F. In the third movement, one can easily find the similarity in the same rondo theme.

Notes#

Sources *Rosen, Charles (1997). The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, New York: W. W. Norton. . *Rosen, Charles (2003). “Schubert and the example of Mozart”, in Brian Newbould ed. , Schubert the Progressive: History, Performance Practice, Analysis, Ashgate.

Further reading#

*Berger, Melvin (2001). Guide to Chamber Music, Mineola, New York: Dover Publications. .

External links#

• • *Performance of String Quintet No. 3 by the Musicians from Marlboro from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format