Haydn's. The inexhaustible humour, the delight in startling and whimsical fancy, which form the essence of Haydn's minuets, occur only here and there in Mozart's. SIX QUARTETS, 1785. They are cast in a nobler mould, their distinguishing characteristics being grace and delicacy, and they are equally capable of expressing merry drollery and strong, even painful, emotion. Haydn's minuets are the product of a laughter-loving national life, Mozart's give the tone of good society. Especially well-defined in character are the minuets of the D minor and C major quartets—the former bold and defiant, the latter fresh and vigorous. Delicate detail in the disposition of the parts is common to almost all of them, keeping the interest tense and high, and there are some striking peculiarities of rhythmical construction. Among such we may notice the juxtaposition of groups of eight and ten bars, so that two bars are either played prematurely, as in the minuet of the first quartet, or inserted, as in the trio of the B flat major quartet. 18 The ten-bar group in the minuet of the D minor quartet is more complicated, because more intimately blended, and still more so is the rhythm of the minuet in the fourth quartet, where the detached unequal groups are curiously interlaced. 19 Very characteristic is also the sharp contrast between minuet and trio—as, for instance, the almost harshly passionate minor trios of the first and last quartets, and the still more striking major trio of the D minor quartet, light and glittering, like a smile in the midst of tears.

The finales have more meaning and emphasis than has hitherto been the case in Mozart's instrumental compositions. Three of them are in rondo form (those of the B flat, E flat, and C major quartet), quick, easy-flowing movements, rich in graceful motifs and interesting features in the working-out. The merriment in them is tempered by 1 a deeper vein of humour, and we are sometimes startled by a display of pathos, as in the finale of the C major quartet. The more cheerful passages are distinctly German in tone; and echoes of the "Zauberflote" may be heard in many of the melodies and turns of expression.

MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.

The last movement of the G major quartet is written in strict form, and highly interesting by reason of the elegance of its counterpoint; the finale of the A major quartet is freer and easier, but nevertheless polyphonic in treatment. 20 The D minor quartet concludes with variations, the original and long-drawn theme having the rhythmical and sharply accented harmonic form of the siciliana. It is in imitation of a national song, and is sometimes like a slow gigue, sometimes like a pastorale. The rhythm of the 6-8 time is somewhat peculiar, in that the first of three quavers is dotted throughout; the tone is soft and tender. There is a very similar siciliana in Gluck's ballet "Don Juan" (No. 2), showing how marked the typical character is. 21 The variations, which are as charming from their grace and delicacy of form as from their singular mixture of melancholy and mirth, bring this wonderful quartet to a close in a very original manner.

The middle movement of the A major quartet is also in variations—more earnest and careful on the whole—the precursor of the variations in Haydn's "Kaiser" and Beethoven's A major quartets. These quartet variations far surpass the pianoforte variations in character and workmanship; they consist not merely of a graceful play of passages, but of a characteristic development of new motifs springing from the theme.

The success of the quartets, on which Mozart put forth all his best powers, was scarcely sufficient to encourage him to make further attempts in the same direction; not until August, 1786, do we find him again occupied with a quartet (D major, 499 K.), in which may be traced an attempt to LATER QUARTETS, 1786-1790. meet the taste of the public without sacrificing the dignity of the quartet style. It is not inferior to the others in any essential point. The technical work is careful and interesting, the design broad—in many respects freer than formerly—the tone cheerful and forcible throughout, with the sentimental element in the background, as compared with the first quartets. The last movement approaches nearest to Haydn's humorous turn of thought, following his manner also in the contrapuntal elaboration of a lightly suggested motif into a running stream of merry humour. Nevertheless, this quartet remained without any immediate successor; it would appear that it met with no very general approval on its first appearance. "A short serenade, consisting of an allegro, romance, minuet and trio, and finale" in G major, composed August 10, 1787 (525 K.), does not belong to quartet music proper. The direction for violoncello, contrabasso, points to a fuller setting, which is confirmed by the whole arrangement, especially in the treatment of the middle parts. It is an easy, precisely worked-out occasional piece.

During his stay in Berlin and Potsdam in the spring of 1789 Mozart was repeatedly summoned to the private concerts of Frederick William II. of Prussia, in which the monarch himself took part as a violoncellist. He was a clever and enthusiastic pupil of Graziani and Duport, and he commissioned Mozart to write quartets for him, as he had previously commissioned Haydn 22 and Boccherini, 23 rewarding them with princely liberality. In June of this year Mozart completed the first of three quartets, composed for and dedicated to the King of Prussia, in D major (575 K.); the second, in B flat major (589 K.), and the third, in F major (590 K.), were composed in May and June, 1790. From letters to Puchberg, we know MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC. that this was a time of bitter care and poverty, which made it a painful effort to work at the quartets, but there is even less trace of effort in them than in the earlier ones. The instrument appropriated to his royal patron is brought to the front, and made into a solo instrument, giving out the melodies in its higher notes. This obliges the viola frequently to take the bass part, altering the whole tone-colouring of the piece, and the instruments are altogether set higher than usual, the more so as the first violin constantly alternates with the violoncello. By this means the tone of the whole becomes more brilliant and brighter, but atones for this in an occasional loss of vigour and force. In other respects also, out of deference no doubt to the King's taste, there is more stress laid upon elegance and clearness than upon depth and warmth of tone. Mozart was too much of an artist to allow any solo part in a quartet to predominate unduly over the