Musical Performance

At the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries Vienna was so full of musical talent that it became known as the music capital of Europe. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert were the pillars of Viennese Classicism and each composer, in his own way, demonstrated a unique affinity for chamber music forms. Haydn and Beethoven in particular emphasized the value of the string quartet as a vehicle for expressing music’s profoundest thoughts. Toward the end of his life, Schubert, whose deepest musical expressions were perhaps most readily reserved for song, also produced a series of magnificent masterpieces for chamber ensembles. The C major String Quintet or the last three Quartets are examples of Schubert at his most elevated and highly charged. The ten best-known String Quartets of Mozart have never quite achieved the same level of popularity as his music in other forms. They are difficult to perform successfully in concert despite having all the usual hallmarks of the composer’s genius. The six String Quintets (for a string quartet plus an extra viola) are easier to listen to and represent the pinnacle of Mozart’s forays into chamber music.

Franz Joseph Haydn Seven Last Words

The Seven Last Words was one of Haydn’s personal favourites. A musical representation of Christ’s seven last words on the cross, it is in seven slow movements and ends with a terrifying depiction of an earthquake (”Il terremoto”). The work was originally conceived for orchestra, but Haydn later arranged it for string quartet as well as a cantata with solo singers; the quartet version is arguably the best. It is the most spiritual and hypnotic of all Haydn’s chamber works.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Clarinet Quintet in A major

Although the clarinet was a recent invention in Mozart’s time, the composer wrote a number of works for the instrument, including a beautiful trio for clarinet, viola and piano; a clarinet concerto; and this quintet (for string quartet and clarinet). Written in 1789, it is the purest and most exquisite of Mozart’s compositions for the instrument.

Franz Schubert String Quintet in C major

Schubert’s C major quintet, for string quartet with an extra cello, shows a marked development from the buoyant spirits of his Trout Quintet, composed only nine years earlier. Schubert’s melodic and harmonic invention is here at its most profound. This beautiful work was composed in the last few months of Schubert’s life.

Johann Hummel Piano Quintet

Although Hummel was not Austrian by birth, he was a regular figure on the musical scene in Vienna at about the same time as Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. He is best known today for his delightful trumpet concerto, but his piano quintet is equally attractive and a good example of the style of chamber music that was popular in Vienna at this time.

Ludwig van Beethoven String Quartet in C sharp minor (opus 131)

Some people consider Beethoven’s last quartets to be the apotheosis not only of Viennese chamber music but of all western classical music. Of course this a subjective judgment, yet no one can deny the monumental stature of these works. Opus 131 was Beethoven’s favourite quartet.

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