Misplaced Pages

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2014) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The String Quartet No. 20 in D major, K. 499, was written in 1786 in Vienna by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was published by – if not indeed written for – his friend Franz Anton Hoffmeister. 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's String Quartet No. 35, Op. 42.

Structure

There are four movements:

1. Allegretto, in D major
2. Menuetto: Allegretto, in D major, with a trio section in D minor
3. Adagio, in G major
4. Allegro, in D major

This work, sandwiched between the six Haydn Quartets (1782–85) and the following three Prussian Quartets (1789–90), is often polyphonic in a way uncharacteristic of the earlier part of the classical music era. The menuetto and its trio give good examples of this in brief, with the brief irregular near-canon 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.

See also

• String Quartet in E-flat major by Johann Baptist Wanhal (1739–1813), string quartet dedicated to Hoffmeister by a contemporary of Mozart.

References

1. Grave, Floyd; Grave, Margaret G. (2006). The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn. Oxford University Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-0-19-517357-4.

Further reading

• Einstein, Alfred (1945). Mendel, Arthur; Broder, Nathan (eds.). Mozart, His Character, His Work (1st ed.). London: Oxford University Press – via Internet Archive.
• Seiffert, Wolf-Dieter, ed. (2016). Mozart – String Quartets Volume: IV (PDF). G. Henle Verlag. ISMN 979-0-2018-7123-3.

External links

•  String Quartet No. 20: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• String Quartet No. 20 in D major: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Mozart's autograph of the Hoffmeister Quartet, British Library
• Christiansen, Kai (26 March 2017). "Program Note: Mozart, String Quartet in D major, K. 499 "Hoffmeister"". Earsense Chamberbase. Retrieved 23 January 2024.
• String Quartet in D major, K. 499 (video) on YouTube, Philharmonia Quartet Berlin 2014
• Jerusalem Quartet (1996). "Free recording". Jerusalem Music Centre. Archived from the original on 31 August 2006.

• Classical music

• String quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Compositions in D major
• 1786 compositions