Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Duo for Violin and Viola in B Flat Major, K. 424
When Mozart, with a large amount of anxiety in his heart, travelled to his hometown of Salzburg in 1783 after a long time, he also visited his dear friend Michael Haydn, the brother of Joseph Haydn, who was in the service of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Michael Haydn’s music had once greatly influenced Mozart, and when Mozart learned that his beloved and respected colleague, due to his prolonged illness, was unable to fulfil the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg’s commission to compose music for him, he immediately agreed to do the work for Michael Haydn to help him: Mozart, drawing on all his talent, wrote two violin-viola duos, one in the key of G major and one in B flat major. The works were performed successfully and actually no one suspected anything about their authorship, least of all the Prince-Archbishop himself. Michael Haydn later carefully preserved Mozart’s manuscript, and Mozart himself clearly enjoyed trying his hand and composing music in his colleague’s absorbed and serious style.
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in A Major, Op. 78
Hummel (1778-1837) was born in Pozsony (today’s Bratislava) and had many connections to the Hungarian musical life of his age. In 1804 he signed a contract with Joseph Haydn and, in his capacity as the director of music in Eisenstadt, he took a great deal of the burden off the shoulders of the Prince’s Concert Master Joseph Haydn. Hummel continued his work in Eisenstadt after Haydn’s death until 1811. Hummel was also very active as a pianist and was one of the celebrated musicians of his time, thereby influencing the next generation’s artists including Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin. Hummel composed his ‘Trio for Flute, Cello and Piano in A Major’ around 1818, and dedicated it to his pupil, the excellent pianist and composer Katharina von Mosel (1789-1832). The melody used in the variation movement of this piece is a folk song popular in Eastern Europe with its well-known Russian, Ukrainian and Yiddish versions. In fact, the same melody (under the title ‘Beautiful Minka’) was also used by Beethoven and Weber.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Bassoon Quarter in G Major, K. 285
Mozart left for Paris in 1777 and, for a longer period, stopped in Mannheim, which boasted one of the most exciting musical lives of the age. Here Mozart almost immediately became acquainted with the city’s best musicians and composers. A patron of the arts and sciences Ferdinand Dejean came into contact with the then 21-year-old composer through the contemporary leader of the Mannheim orchestra Christian Cannabich, and commissioned Mozart to compose three flute quartets. The first movement of the work is in sonata form, and both the main theme and the secondary theme are presented by the bassoon. The bassoon also plays the “leading role” in the second movement, which is written in a two-part song form, and the cheerful, dance-like closing Rondo follows the second movement of Adagio without any interruption.
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20 No. 2
Haydn’s series of six ‘String Quartets’ (Op. 20), premiered in 1772, presents a decisive moment in the composer’s career, and the series also constitutes a significant milestone in the history of the genre of string quartet. Perhaps Haydn himself was aware of the exceptional significance of this quartet cycle as he did not publish any new works in what was probably his most favourite genre for the next ten years, up until 1781. This series of six string quartets includes three compositions featuring fugue finales as closing movements.