others; the first violin and violoncello leave the other two instruments their independent power of expression, but the motifs and working-out portions are less important, and here and there they run into a fanciful play of passages. It is singular that in the quartets in D and F major the last movements are the most important. When once the composer has thrown himself into the elaboration of his trifling motifs he grows warm, and, setting to work in good earnest, the solo instrument is made to fall into rank and file; the artist appears, and has no more thought of his presentation at court. The middle movements are very fine as to form and effect, but are without any great depth of feeling. The charming allegro of the second quartet, in F major, is easy and graceful in tone, and interesting from the elegance of its elaboration. In short, these quartets completely maintain Mozart's reputation for inventive powers, sense of proportion, and mastery of form, but they lack that absolute devotion to the highest ideal of art characteristic of the earlier ones.

Mozart's partiality for quartet-writing may be inferred from the many sketches which remain (68-75, Anh., K.), some of them of considerable length, such as that fragment of a lively movement in A major (68, 72, Anh., K.) consisting of 169 bars.

TRIO IN E FLAT, 1788.

Duets and trios for stringed instruments were naturally held in less esteem than string quartets. Mozart composed in Vienna (September 27, 1788), for some unspecified occasion, a trio for violin, viola, and violoncello, in £ flat major (563 K.), which consists of six movements, after the manner of a divertimento—allegro, adagio, minuet, andante with variations, minuet, rondo. The omission of the one instrument increases the difficulty of composing a piece full in sound and characteristic in movement, more than could have been imagined; the invention and skill of the composer are taxed to the utmost. It is evident that this only gave the work an additional charm to Mozart. Each of the six movements is broadly designed and carried out with equal care and devotion, making this trio unquestionably one of Mozart's finest works. No one performer is preferred before the other, but each, if he does his duty, may distinguish himself in his own province. With wonderful discrimination, too, every technical device is employed which can give an impulse to any happy original idea. How beautifully, for instance, is the simple violoncello passage which ushers in the adagio—[See Page Images]

transformed into the emphatic one for the violin—

coined in due time, with climacteric effect, by the viola and violoncello. The violin-jumps in the same adagio—

are effective only in their proper position; and all the resources at command are made subservient to the art which is to produce the living work.

MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.

The variations demand special attention. The theme is suggestive of a national melody, and its effect is heightened by the different treatment of each part when repeated, which also gives fulness and variety to the variations. Each of these is artistically worked out in detail and of distinctly individual character; the last is especially remarkable, in which the viola, to a very lively figure, carries out the theme in its simplest enunciation as a true Cantus firmus. The whole impression is one of freshness and beauty of conception, elevated and enlivened by the difficulties which offered themselves. Nothing more charming can be imagined than the first trio of the second minuet; its tender purity charms us like that of a flower gleaming through the grass.

Haydn seems to have made no use of the increased resources offered by the quintet, although other musicians—Boccherini, for instance—cultivated this branch. It would appear to have been for some particular occasions that Mozart composed four great string quintets, in which he followed the track laid out in the first quartets. Two were composed in the spring of 1787, after his return from Prague— 24

C major, composed April 19, 1787 (515 K.).

G major, composed May 16, 1787 (516 K.).—

the other two—

D major, composed December, 1790 (593 K.).

E flat major, composed April 12, 1791 (614 K.).—

at short intervals, "at the earnest solicitation of a musical friend," as the publisher's announcement declares. 25

Mozart doubles the viola 26 —not like Boccherini in his 155 quintets, the violoncello 27 —whereby little alteration in tone, colour, or structure is effected. The doubling of the violoncello gives it a predominance which its very charm of tone THE QUINTET. renders all the more dangerous: whereas the strengthening of the less strongly accentuated middle parts by the addition of a viola gives freer scope for a lengthy composition. The additional instrument gives increase of freedom in the formation of melodies and their harmonic development, but it also lays on the composer the obligation of providing independent occupation for the enlarged parts. A chief consideration is the grouping of the parts in their numerous possible combinations. The first viola corresponds to the first violin as leader of melodies, while the second viola leaves the violoncello greater freedom of action; these parts share the melodies in twos or threes, either alternately or in imitative interweaving; the division of a motif as question and answer among different instruments is especially facilitated thereby. Again, two divisions may be placed in effective contrast, the violins being supported by a viola, or the violas by the violoncello. But the device first used by Haydn in his quartets, of giving two parts in octaves, is perhaps the most effective in the quintets, a threefold augmentation being even employed in the trio of the E flat major quintet (614 K.). Finally, it is easier to strengthen the violoncello by the viola here than it is in the quartet. It is not that all these resources are out of reach for the quartet, but that they find freer and fuller scope in the quintet. The effect of the quintet is not massive; it rests on the characteristic movement of the individual parts, and demands greater freedom in order that this movement of manifold and differing forces may be well ordered and instinct with living power. The increased forces require greater space for their activity, if only on account of the increased mass of sound. If the middle parts are to move freely without pressing on each other, the outer parts must be farther apart, and this has a decided influence on the melodies and the sound effects, the general impression becoming more forcible and brilliant. The dimensions must also be increased in other directions. A theme, to be divided among five parts, and a working-out which is to give each of them fair play, must be planned from the first. The original motif of the first Allegro of the C major quintet (515 K.)—[See Page Image] MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. involves of necessity the