When was Mozart's String Quintet No. 6 K. 614 completed?
Mozart completed String Quintet No. 6 in E major, K. 614, on the 12th of April 1791. It is considered his last major chamber work.
Questions about String Quintet No. 6 (Mozart)
Short answers, pulled from the story.
What instruments are used in Mozart's String Quintet K. 614?
K. 614 is scored for two violins, two violas, and one cello. Like all of Mozart's string quintets, it is a viola quintet, meaning it adds a second viola rather than a second cello to the standard quartet.
Why is Mozart's K. 614 sometimes dismissed as a lesser work?
K. 614 and the contemporary quintet K. 593 are sometimes dismissed as second-rate works reflecting Mozart's straitened financial circumstances near the end of his life. Scholars such as Eisen argue this is a misreading, pointing instead to a deliberate shift toward exploring a single motivating idea across the entire structure.
What is unusual about the form of the slow movement in Mozart's K. 614?
The slow movement of K. 614 appears to be a theme and variations, but Eisen notes it also takes on the characteristics of a rondo and of a sonata simultaneously. This layering of formal structures is one of the analytically distinctive features of the work.
How does K. 614 relate to Mozart's piano concertos?
Scholar Simon Keefe argues that the first movement of K. 614 takes the listener back to the world of Mozart's concertos, reflecting what he calls stylistic cross-fertilization from the final piano concertos into the late string chamber music.
What did Leonard Ratner say about the first movement coda of Mozart's K. 614?
Leonard Ratner described the coda as operating on three levels of action: paired violas in the middle register, high violins paired, and the low cello. He wrote that the brilliance and drive of the passage have a physical impact better described as counteraction rather than counterpoint.