Allegro con brio
3rd Chamber Concert / Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Piano Quartet no. 1 in G Minor KV 478 / Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Quintet in B-flat Major op. posth.
Alter Saal
In the autumn of 1785 Mozart was working on his opera »Le nozze di Figaro«. With his friend and publisher Franz Anton Hoffmeister he also agreed on a series of three piano quartets, for which he interrupted the work on his stage production. According to Hoffmeister’s wishes, the piano quartet no. 1 should be »short, light and popular«, »so that the haute bourgeoisie and noble amateurs« would »buy it avidly and play it in their salons«. Mozart, however, did not fulfil his wish, as the piano and string instrument parts are rather challenging and very ambitious for »amateurs«.
Rimsky-Korsakov wrote his quintet in B-flat major for a competition organised by the Russian Music Society in 1876. The jury did not pay much attention to it as it was performed by an unable musician playing at sight. During a performance at the St. Petersburg Chamber Music Society, this initially unsuccessful composition was, however, greeted with applause. The work comprises three movements and is written »in the classical style of Beethoven«, according to Rimsky-Korsakov.