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INTÉGRALE DES QUATUORS À CORDES 47
Composed inMay 1789, after severalmonths of silence, the
string quartet in B-flat
major, K.589
is the shortest of the last ten quartets. Mozart composed no more
symphonies. Hewasworking on
Così fan tutte
.
TheQuartet beginswithan
Allegro
, very similar inmood toHaydn’sOpus 76No.6:
this is the string quartet at itsmost abstract.With itsmagnificent developments
the
Larghetto
favours the cello (it must be remembered that FriedrichWilhelm II
took this part). The
Menuetto
is very elaborate. Visually the writing is very close
to that of Beethoven’s last quartets, with patterns ascending and descending,
from the high notes of the first violin to the very lownotes of the cello, andwith
occasional unisons at the octave, the third, etc., thus providing the listener with
an element of surprise.
It is interesting to compare this quartet with Beethoven’s Quartet N
o
. 14, in
which a solo instrument (the first violin or the cello) converses with the other
three as in a concerto.
The final
Allegro
is full of dazzling virtuosity. It is very short and includes an
‘orchestral’ part, which is very rare in Mozart. The mood of the whole of this
movement is very dynamic, sweeping away the atmosphere of anxiety created
by the previous ones.
Composed in July 1790, just before the deeplymovingand sublimeQuintet K.593,
the
string quartet in F major K.590
betrays a secret anxiety, a climate of sombre
resignation. In the eight months he had left to live, Mozart composed Minuets,
Contredanses, the
AveVerum
,
LaClemenza diTito
,
Die Zauberflöte
and the
Requiem
...
The opening
Allegro
once again gives the cello a prominent role: this is a
veritable concerto movement, with a very simple recapitulation. The
Allegretto
is pathetic, and almost unbearable in its expression of despair: a short, sombre
panting theme, the scrolls of the violin provide a sort of maladroit support, in an