モーツァルト <--that says Mozart in japanese

080424
Blog #12

C. Mozart, String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, first movement, mm. 1-41

Exposition: mm 1-41; d minor and F major
First theme: mm 1-8 ; d minor
Phrase a: mm1-4; d minor; ends with an IAC
Transition: mm 9-24; modulation from d minor to F major
Second theme: mm 24-33; F major; has a closing theme
Closing theme: 34-41

Since this movement is in D minor, the expected second key area is in III, so F major. This modulation happens from measures 9-24. There is added chromatic notes and it is fully in F major at measure 24. The second theme sounds more uppy and cheerful, possibly because of the change of key. The second violin, viola and cello play a steady metronome for the melody of the first violin, with the cello playing on the first and third beats and the viola and 2nd violin playing sixteenth notes with a sixteenth note rest at the beginning of the beats where the cello plays on the 1st and 3rd beats. In the second theme the melody get passed around to the different instruments rather than the 1st violin playing the melody all the time. The voices are conversing with each other than in the first theme. I feel like to perform these in some places it feels natural to move your body and more/step forward on some of the long notes that maybe are emphasized more. Maybe that helps with the communication too because this is a string quartet with only 4 people playing. The definition of codetta is a small coda, and coda is following a strong cadence and bring it to an end, but I feel like this isn’t the case. At the first and second ending it doesn’t feel like a strong cadence. It feels more like a closing theme than a codetta.


One instrument plays a solo part while the others accompany: mm 1-4; mm 25-28

The first violin and cell play a duet, with accompaniment in the second violin and viola: mm 32-35

A motive is passed through the quartet, with each instrument playing it in turn: mm 12-14


D. Mozart, String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, first movement, mm 70-117

Recapitulation: mm 70-117; D minor
First theme: mm 70-77 ; D minor
Phrase a: mm 70-73; D minor; Identical to mm. 1-4
Transition: mm 78-93
Second theme: mm 94-102
Closing theme: mm 102-117

The entire recapitulation is in the tonic key D. This is different than the exposition because the second theme modulated into III, but in this recapitulation it stayed in the tonic key. The end has a forward motion, partly because the viola has all the repeated arpeggios pushing it forward.

E. Mozart, String Quartet in D minor, K. 421, first movement, mm 42-70

Development: mm 42-70, E-flat major

The development begins with an E flat chord. There are three motives in this development section that are repeated throughout. One starts from measure 53 on. It’s a half note, dotted quarter note and an eight note theme. It goes around to the different voices sort of like a round and as if the instruments are conversing. Another theme is in measure 46 on, the viola and cello plays that motive throughout the development. The recapitulation begins at measure 70 because it has the return of the themes from the exposition in the same order. This second large section has a repeat with a first and second ending. When you play the first ending it is 1 measure added of that motive, but when you play the second ending it has a few more measures of those sixteenth notes that the first violin plays. So it sounds different the second time and signals that is coming to an end, if you didn’t already feel like it should be coming to an end after listening to all of the movement.


One instrument plays a solo part while others accompany: mm 42-45

The first violin and cello play a duet, with accompaniment in the second violin and viola: mm 56-58

A motive is passed through the quartet, with each instrument playing it in turn: mm 53-58

The first and second violins play a duet: mm 45-49


This piece sounds like a lot of fun to play. I really like the second theme in the exposition, maybe because it sounds so cheerful.