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INTÉGRALE DES QUATUORS À CORDES 37
M
ozart’s
string quartet in G major, K.80
is dated 15 March
1770. It was composed in the environs of Milan during the
composer’s first stay in Italy. It begins with an Adagio: the
first theme is very similar to the cavatina
Porgi amor
from
Le Nozze di Figaro
, while the second calls to mind one of his
violin concertos. Mozart was eleven years old; he had already
composed a dozen symphonies, and Haydn’s first string quartets had been
written the previous year. The youthful freshness of theAdagio is followed by an
Allegro, whose unclouded vivacity is very close to the allegro movements of the
Divertimenti K.136-138, composed two years later. Then comes a light
Menuetto
and a final
Rondeau
that is both joyful and carefree.
It is curious to note that, of the twenty-three string
quartets composed by Mozart, eighteen were written
in groups of six: the six ‘Milan’ Quartets, the six
‘Vienna’ Quartets and the famous Quartets dedicated
toHaydn. Andmost exegetes believe that the last three
quartets (‘Prussian’) were also intended to form a set
of six. Thus, only two of Mozart’s string quartets stand
alone: his very first one (K.80) and N
o
. 20 in D major
K.499, ‘Hoffmeister’. This intention was obviously a
tribute to Haydn, the father of the string quartet, who
wrote so many six-part cycles.