Mozart - String Quartet No. 15 in D Minor, K. 421

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Joseph Haydn was not the first composer to write for two violins, viola and cello, but he did develop the ensemble into a form that has engaged many composers from his time to the present. His 68 string quartets show an unending imagination and creativity. They became the standard to which all other string quartets were judged by.

Mozart's first of 26 string quartets was written in 1770 when he was 14 years of age. As his experience and expertise grew, his quartets began to be inspired by those of Haydn. From 1782-1784 Mozart wrote a set of six string quartets that was dedicated to Haydn. They were published in Vienna in 1785 as Mozart's opus 10, and carried the following dedication from Mozart to Haydn:

To my dear friend Haydn:   A father who had resolved to send his children out into the great world took it to be his duty to confide them to the protection and guidance of a very celebrated Man, especially when the latter by good fortune was at the same time his best Friend. Here they are then, O great Man and dearest Friend, these six children of mine. They are, it is true, the fruit of a long and laborious endeavor, yet the hope inspired in me by several Friends that it may be at least partly compensated encourages me, and I flatter myself that this offspring will serve to afford me solace one day. You, yourself, dearest friend, told me of your satisfaction with them during your last Visit to this Capital. It is this indulgence above all which urges me to commend them to you and encourages me to hope that they will not seem to you altogether unworthy of your favour. May it therefore please you to receive them kindly and to be their Father, Guide and Friend! From this moment I resign to you all my rights in them, begging you however to look indulgently upon the defects which the partiality of a Father's eye may have concealed from me, and in spite of them to continue in your generous Friendship for him who so greatly values it, in expectation of which I am, with all of my Heart, my dearest Friend, your most Sincere Friend,     W.A. Mozart

Haydn himself began the tradition of releasing string quartets in sets of six, which was also followed by Beethoven with his first six quartets. There was usually one quartet in a set that was in a minor key, and Mozart's 15th string quartet, the second one of opus 10,is in the key of D minor. It consists of 4 movements:

I. Allegro moderato - Each of the 6 quartets dedicated to Haydn are individual works in character and spirit, with this one being defined to a great extent by its D minor tonality. The first movement begins with a theme in the first violin with an octave drop on the home note of D:

Mozart seldom has only two contrasting themes in his sonata form developments. Such is his gift of melody, he uses what is called theme groups, and the contrast can come between these groups. Minor and major keys are juxtaposed and create a variety of emotion and tension in the exposition, and are expanded naturally in the development section, in some sections contrapuntally. The recapitulation emphasizes minor over major, and some of the brightness of the second theme group has been darkened as a result. The movement ends in D minor.

II. Andante -  The first movement goes from dark to light and back to dark again, and despite being in the key of F major, the second movement is not all sunshine. The music doesn't flow as smoothly, and seems a tad disjointed. The middle section is in the minor, and the mood turns accordingly. But it is a brief time before the music turns back to the mood of the beginning of the movement.

III. Menuetto: Allegretto - The third movement returns to D minor in a rather serious minuet punctuated by chromaticism:

The trio is in D major, and is in stark contrast to the minuet in the delicacy of the theme played in the first violin to pizzicato accompaniment. When the minuet returns, it sounds even more stark after the gentle trio.

IV. Allegretto ma non troppo -  The final movement is a set of variations on a theme in 6/8 time. Only one variation, the last one, is in a different key from the tonic. This final variation is in D major, and gives a little bit of solace before the sadness returns in a coda that adds intensity and drama to the theme. At the very last, the music shifts to D major and ends with a picardy third, which oddly enough adds a feeling of irony and resignation instead of brightness.