The String Quartet No. 20 in D major, K. 499, was written in 1786 in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

. It was published by – if not indeed written for – his friend

Franz Anton Hoffmeister Franz Anton Hoffmeister (12 May 1754 – 9 February 1812) was a German and Austrian composer and music publisher. Early years Franz Anton Hoffmeister was born in Rottenburg am Neckar, Further Austria, on 12 May 1754. At the age of fourteen ...

. Because of this, the quartet has acquired the nickname ''Hoffmeister''. Hoffmeister had started issuing a series of chamber-music publications in 1785, including Mozart's K. 499 as well as

Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( ; ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...

's String Quartet No. 35, Op. 42.

Structure

There are four

movement Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger co ...

s: This work, sandwiched between the six Haydn Quartets (1782–85) and the following three Prussian Quartets (1789–90), is often

polyphonic Polyphony ( ) is a type of musical texture consisting of two or more simultaneous lines of independent melody, as opposed to a musical texture with just one voice ( monophony) or a texture with one dominant melodic voice accompanied by chords ...

in a way uncharacteristic of the earlier part of the

classical music era The Classical period was an era of classical music between roughly 1750 and 1820. The classical period falls between the Baroque and Romantic periods. It is mainly homophonic, using a clear melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment ...

. The menuetto and its trio give good examples of this in brief, with the brief irregular near-

canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

between first violin and viola in the second half of the main portion of the minuet, and the double imitations in the trio between the violins, and between the viola and cello.

References

External links

* *
Mozart's autograph of the Hoffmeister Quartet

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

* *, Philharmonia Quartet Berlin 2014 * {{Authority control #20 Compositions in D major 1786 compositions

Structure

See also

References

Further reading

External links