Life of Mozart

8 MOZART S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.in their power of rapid movement. Their union enables themto fulfil the demands of complete harmonies, and to compensateby increase of freedom and fulness for the advantageswhich the pianoforte possesses as a solo instrument.The quartet is therefore particularly well adapted both forthe polyphonic and the homophonic style of composition.The varieties of tone of the instruments among each other,and of each in different keys, further increases their capacit}^for expression, the nuances of tone-colouring appearing tobelong to the nature of stringed instruments. Thus thematerial sound elements of the string quartet are singularlyuniform, at the same time that they allow free scope to theindividual movement of the component parts. The beginningof the andante of the E flat major quartet (428 K.) willsuffice to show how entirely different an effect is given by amere difference in the position of the parts. The valuewhich Mozart set upon the uniformity of the naturallybeautiful sound effects of stringed instruments may beinferredfrom the fact that he seldom attempted interferencewith it as a device for pleasing the ear. Pizzicato passagesoccur only three times—in the trio of the D minor quartet421 K.), of the C major quintet (515 K.), and of the clarinetquintet (581 K.)—and each time as the gentlest form ofaccompaniment to a tender melody. He was not proneeither to emphasise bass passages by pizzicato, and hasdone so only in the second adagio of the G minor quintet(516 K.) and in the first movement of the horn quintet (407K.). Nor is the muting, formerly so frequent, made use ofexcept in the first adagio of the G minor quartet and in thelarghetto of the clarinet quintet. It need scarcely be saidthat an equal amount of technical execution and musicalproficiency was presupposed in each of the performers. Thisis especially noticeable in the treatment of the violoncello.It is not only put on a level with the other instruments asto execution, but its many-sided character receives duerecognition, and it is raised from the limited sphere of a basspart into one of complete independence.The favourite comparison of the quartet with a conversationbetween four intellectual persons holds good in some