Mozart: Piano Quintet, K. 452 / Beethoven: Piano Quintet, Op. 16

Description

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827)Quintet in E Flat Major, Op. 16 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791)Quintet in E Flat Major, K. 452 Adagio and Rondo in C Minor/C Major, K. 617 Ludwig van Beethoven, called after his distinguishedgrandfather, Kapellmeister to the Archbishop of Cologne, was born in Bonn in 1770, the sonof a singer employed at the archiepiscopal court. After early service as organist andviola-player there, Beethoven moved in 1792 to Vienna, encouraged by his patron to furtherstudy with Haydn, an arrangement that he found unsatisfactory. Introductions todistinguished musical amateurs in Vienna, however, helped to establish him in the imperialcapital as a virtuoso keyboard-player and as a composer of marked originality. Hissubsequent career, channelled, as a result of increasing deafness, into composition ratherthan performance, continued in Vienna, to the tolerant admiration of leading members ofsociety, ready to forgive personal eccentricities when coupled with such obvious marks ofoutstanding musical genius. Beethoven's E flat majorQuintet for piano, oboe, clarinet, French horn and bassoon, was written in 1796and dedicated to Prince Joseph von Schwarzenberg. It was first performed at a concertorganized by the violinist Schuppanzigh on 6th April, 1797, and again the following yearin the presence of the Emperor at a concert organized by Salieri in aid of Widows andOrphans. The quintet was published in 1801. Ferdinand Ries has lelt an account of a laterperformance in which the former Mannheimoboist, recipient of an oboe concerto from Mozart,Friedrich Ramm, took part. To his annoyance and that of the other wind- players, Beethovenchose to improvise extensively during the last movement. The quintet formed part of theBeethoven programme chosen by Schuppanzigh for his farewell concert in Vienna in 1816,before his departure for Russia. The pianist on this occasion was Czerny, who added hisown embellishments to his part, causing Beethoven to upbraid him, and, characteristically,to send the next day a letter of apology for his behaviour.Beethoven modelled his quintet for piano and wind instrumentson Mozart's work in the same key and for the same forces. The first movement opens with aslow introduction. The piano leads into the Allegro, the principal theme later taken up bythe clarinet, and treated imitatively before the piano leads the way to a second theme,again promptly imitated by the clarinet. A central development of dramatic contrast isfollowed by the expected recapitulation, the second theme now introduced by the oboe. Abrief piano cadenza ushers in the closing section of the movement. The same instrumententers alone to announce the principal theme of the B flat major slow movement, followedby the clarinet. The oboe is followed by the bassoon in the following section, leading tocanonic entries from one woodwind instrument after another. The piano otters a decoratedversion of the theme, joined by the wind, and succeeded by a second e