• Bio
  • Contact Ian

Ian Sidden

Subscribe

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Craft
  • My News
  • About the Music
  • The Rest of Life

Mozart Month: Day 9 with his First String Quartet

October 1, 2016 By Ian Sidden

Today, I’m listening to Mozart’s String Quartet no. 1, which he apparently composed when he was fourteen. I find the fact of it amazing, but I don’t really know the piece, so let’s dive in.

The Recording

I’m listening to the Hagen Quartet.

Apple Music

Spotify

YouTube

Enjoy!

String Quartet no. 1 in G K. 80

1. Adagio

  • Surprise. A slow first movement.
  • Lots of parallel harmonies.
  • The accompanying players keep time with a steady beat through much of this movement.
  • Creates an attractive atmosphere despite the relative simplicity of the piece.
  • There are many entrances of a single instrument with a sustained high tone in the background slowly crescendoing into prominence. This is clearly an effect Mozart liked from an early age.

2. Allegro

  • Demands a fair amount of virtuosity right from the start.
  • I enjoy the staggered imitative entrances. This is an techniqe used in many of the pieces I’ve already written about.
  • Nice contrast between high and low instruments in the… development?

3. Menuetto

  • Simple and attractive. Especially the trio section.

4. Rondeau (Allegro)

  • Light hearted.
  • Uses sudden dynamic shifts a lot for contrast.
  • I like one section in particular. The viola (I believe, might also be the cello) has a brief solo, and the violins take on a very bouncy accompaniment.

Takeaways

This is attractive but clearly early. It’s simple in a way that I haven’t heard in the other pieces, even the “Sonata facile”. Naturally, with good players, the piece is still worth listening to and very enjoyable. There are a lot of terrific ideas, and some of his writing makes me think of later work, such as “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”.

Until tomorrow!

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 17 with “Eine kleine Nachtmusik” Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 16 with his 15th String Quartet Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 15 with the 14th String Quartet Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 14 with his Second String Quartet

Filed Under: About the Music Tagged With: Hagen Quartet, Listening, Mozart, Mozart Month, String Quartet

« Mozart Month: Day 8 with the “Sonata Facile”
Mozart Month: Day 10 with the Requiem »

About Ian

Ian Sidden is currently a bass member of the Theater Dortmund Opera chorus. Read More…

Latest Posts

Training Singing, Practicing Strength

In the past few years, I’ve begun viewing my singing work in a similar manner to my weight training. And vice versa. The two share obvious similarities. We use time and effort to get better: We want more power. We want more endurance. We want more agility. We want to be more durable. We want […]

Premiere: Fernand Cortez

Tonight we premiere our production of Gaspare Spontini’s Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique at Opernhaus Dortmund. This is after a two year delay; originally we were to have premiered this in 2020, but history intervened. There are many versions of this opera floating around, and we are doing a version that has – […]

Premiere: Frédégonde

Here’s one I’ve been looking forward to for awhile. Tonight at Opernhaus Dortmund, we’re premiering Frédegonde for the first time in Germany. It’s a work inspired from the early history of the Merovingians in what is now France and the ongoing feud between two of the queens, Brunhild and Frédegonde. The work was composed by […]

“Ständchen” by Schubert, Guitar and Voice Arrangement

Here is a performance of my self accompanied guitar arrangement of Franz Schubert’s “Ständchen”.

PREMIERE: Tosca

Tonight at Opernhaus Dortmund, we’re premiering our “Tosca”, which is the first premiere including the chorus since March 13, 2020.

Copyright © 2023 · WordPress