Musikfestival: Gringolts Quartet. Lily Francis - Alle Mozart-Streichquintette

In the organizer's words:

Can also be booked as a pass (includes all three concerts).

"It is always puzzling, not only to the connoisseur, but also to the expert, how nothing other than a second viola can open up a new world of chamber music for strings", said musicologist Martin Geck about Mozart's string quintets. When the 17-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus wrote the first of these works, K. 174, in his native Salzburg in December 1773, it immediately crowned his early chamber music oeuvre. With the C major Quintet K. 515, composed 14 years later, he put down on paper by far his longest instrumental piece in four movements. It is a light work that looks back to "Figaro" and forward to the "Jupiter" Symphony.

In April 1788, Mozart had "three new quintets for 2 violins, 2 violas and violoncello, beautifully and correctly written" advertised in the Viennese newspaper. In addition to K. 515 and K. 516 with K. 406, these included the wind serenade K. 388, which he had reworked for five-part strings. This is not - as might be assumed - a cheerful, harmless work, but an ambitious "night musique" in a predominantly serious, sombre tone. The same applies to the Quintet in G minor, which is also characterized by strong emotions and tensions. Mozart never wrote more intimately, more plaintively, more movingly. Finally, however, there is a happy ending in the form of a lively final rondo.

The D major Quintet K. 593 was performed for the first time in December 1790 at a chamber music evening in Mozart's Viennese apartment. Joseph Haydn, who set off on his first trip to London the following day, was present. It was to be the last meeting between the two friends, as Mozart only had a year to live. The two late string quintets - K. 614 was composed in April 1791 as his last completed chamber music work for strings - also form a kind of adieu with allusions to Haydn and melancholy touches. At the same time, however, they contain a joyful music that points to the future with its harmonic and melodic richness, contrasts and profundity.

Clef: concert introduction with Marcus Imbsweiler half an hour before the concert begins in the auditorium of the Old University.

Price information:

12-35 € regular, 8 € tickets for students, trainees and pupils available at the Box Office from 1 hour before the concert starts.