But apart from all this, there can be no doubt that his works are a priceless treasure, for whose good influence humanity, past and present, is deeply his debtor.
Mozart’s String Quartetts
Of String Quartetts Mozart wrote fewer in number by far than Haydn, but none the less his work in this direction is such as to overshadow that of Haydn. It has been well said that “next in importance after his (Mozart’s) Symphonies come his Quartetts. In this form Haydn was again the pioneer, but it fell to Mozart to produce the first really great and perfect examples. This refined and delicate form of art had come into prominence rather suddenly. It was cultivated with some success by other composers besides Mozart and Haydn, such as Boccherini and Dittersdorf. But the quartetts which Mozart produced in 1782, and dedicated to Haydn, are still among the select few of highest value in existence. In a form in which the actual possibilities are so limited, and in which the responsibilities towards each individual solo instrument are so great, where the handling requires to be so delicate and so neatly adjusted in every detail, Mozart’s artistic skill stood him in good stead. The great difficulty was the exact ascertainment of the style of treatment best suited to the group of four solo instruments. It was easy to write contrapuntal movements of the old kind for them, but in the new harmonic style, and in the form of a sonata order, it was extremely difficult to adjust the balance between one instrument and another so that subordination should not subside into blank dulness, nor independence of inner parts become obtrusive. Mozart, among his many gifts, had a great sense of fitness, and he adapted himself completely to the necessities of the situation, without adopting a polyphonic manner, and without sacrificing the independence of his instruments.”[15]
The Genius of Mozart
The wonderful power of Mozart as a composer is never more clearly revealed than in the production of that strangely mysterious effect which, unaided by any mere external text or programme, is here and there to be found in the works of all the really great composers. It may be illustrated by even so familiar an example as the fifth bar of Beethoven’s No. 3 Leonora Overture, where the downward C major scale ends on F♯, and is followed by the unexpected and weird harmony of that note. Other instances may be found in the scherzo of the Fifth Symphony of Beethoven, and in Schubert’s Lebens-stürme, op. 144, where the chorale-like subject enters. Wagner, too, has many examples in the instrumental portions of his works; for instance, the commencement of Scene 4, Act ii., of Die Walküre.
The opening of Mozart’s Quartett No. 6 in C major, which has already been quoted on [page 60], has sometimes been referred to as illustrating this mysterious kind of effect; but, while the passage is unquestionably peculiar, there are others which better exemplify what is meant by this atmosphere of “other worldness,” as it has been called. Take, for instance, the passage beginning at the forty-second bar of the first movement of Quartett No. 2 in D minor of the set dedicated to Haydn, and mark the subtle effect in bars 4 and 5, especially the sudden change from forte to piano at bar 4, and the double piano which follows:—
Mozart.
Of course it must by no means be overlooked that it is only by a perfect rendering of the music that ideal effects of this kind can be revealed as they first arose in the mind of the composer.