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Yet it is still somewhat anecdotal in comparison to the two other quintets
composed that year - two immense twin masterpieces with a length that is
incredibly rare in Amadeus’s chamber music; each one lasts approximately
thirty-five minutes. They seem to illustrate the two sides of Mozart the
artist.
The first, in
C major
, without being particularly joyful, expresses a certain
optimism, a freshness of language, and writing that is highly innovative,
which makes it luminous. In contrast, the
KV516, in G major
(a key that is
particularly symbolic of the distress and the tragic in Mozart), sounds like a
dramatic exploration of death.
In addition to his fear of the future and his crisis of confidence, Wolfgang
Amadeus had to cope with the illness of his father, Leopold, who remained
in Salzburg. He learned about his father’s illness in April, and soon after, on
4 April, wrote a poignant letter from which you will forgive us for quoting so
liberally in that it illustrates so perfectly the composer’s state of mind when
he was writing his two great quintets.
“I need hardly tell you how greatly I am longing to receive some reassuring news from yourself.
And I still expect it; although I have now made a habit of being prepared in all affairs of life for
the worst. As death, when we come to consider it closely, is the true goal of our existence, I have
formed during the last few years such close relationships with this best and truest friend of
mankind that death’s image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is indeed very soothing and
consoling, and I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity (you understand me)...
of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. I never lie down at
night without reflecting that, young as I am, I may not live to see another day.
It is not known how Leopold reacted to this moving letter. After a slight
improvement in his health, Mozart’s father died on the following 28 May.
40 MOZART_TALICH QUARTET