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Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Mozart, String Quintet in G minor, K. 516

I thought I would go out on a limb here and try something besides Handel. This is a much larger piece, and has quite a bit more musical content than our previous works. This quintet by Mozart is a fairly straight foward complex ternary form piece.
The A section of the piece is a continuous simple binary form. In part a, we have a 12 bar phrase group, punctuated by loud vertical attacks, juxtaposed next to the soft half cadences we hear in places. There is a hint of an IAC near the end. In the b part, the first 14 measures are one big phrase in my opinion, ending on an IAC. This phrase sequences up in the melody, building to the forte chords we found in the first part. After the vertical attacks, we conclude this section on our first PAC, with a common tone modulation transitioning us to the B section of the overall ternary form.
The B section is another continuous simple binary form modulated to the parallel key of G major. This section changes meter, and key, a stark contrast from the A sectionl. In the trio, notice the solo violin part. This section highlights the first violin, with the rest of the quintet accompaning. Filled with phrases ending in HC, this progressive part is a phrase group. The second part is similar to the previous part in the B section, however it is modulated to a minor, (I think). Again we see the soloistic first violin part, with the rest of the instruments filling out the harmonic progression. Notice how Mozart plays with the dominant and iv chords. Finally we end on a PAC in G major, and da capo back to the beginning for a literal repeat of the A section.

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