The Quintet K.515 is Mozart's longest four-movement instrumental piece to date, featuring a breadth of thought and sound not found in his string quartets.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Mozart's G minor works, like the Quintet K.516, are reserved for intimate, soliloquy-like moods, often marked by rhythmic throbbing and violent dynamic extremes.
Composer Biography
Mozart wrote a revealing letter to his father about his familiarity with death as 'the key to our true Happiness,' stating its image no longer had terrors for him.
Historical Context
In 1787, while Vienna seemed indifferent to Mozart, Prague welcomed him enthusiastically, commissioning his opera Don Giovanni.
Performer Biography
The Van Kuijk Quartet won first prize, best Beethoven, and best Haydn prizes at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition.
Composer Biography
Mozart's 30th year, 1786, was highly productive, yielding two piano concertos, the 'Prague' Symphony, and a concert aria.
Composition History
Mozart's string quintets, particularly those with two violas, are considered an original genre, as he preferred the viola as a string instrument.
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