These works appear to be related to each other through Romanticism, of which they embody the initial and conclusive breaths. Mozart in his Quartet K.421, seems to almost foreshadow this movement, while Webern and Korngold bid it farewell. Indeed, these three works have pre- or post-Romantic accents and, above all, cast a glance towards the past while reaching into the future. Mozart is paying tribute here to his master Joseph Haydn, yet he seems drawn to another, rather sombre world, unfolding a latent lyricism of an intimate nature. The quartet, moreover, begins sotto voce. Webern likewise conveys a restrained emotion and creates an impression of weightlessness. One senses here the fragility of a world, that of Romanticism, which was already in its death throes in early twentieth-century Vienna. As for Korngold though his language remains lyrical, his harmonies are quite complex, at times producing a certain friction. In any case, these works are imbued with an intense emotional power. 18 ECHOES OF VIENNA
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