QUATUOR HERMÈS 19 It is true that this quartet by Mozart is one of the most dramatic in his entire output. From its opening bars, it draws us into a rather troubling world, and its key of D minor seems to suggest a fatal destiny. In what frame of mind do you approach this work? It is the only quartet, amongst the cycle of six quartets dedicated to Haydn, that is composed in a minor key. In this work, the composer appears to raise part of his mask and reveal his unease. This anxiety rarely leaves us throughout the work. Even though the second movement, in the key of F major, allows a glimpse of light to appear, the sense of anguish remains perceptible. This Andante does not bring complete calm; its repetitive discourse gives the impression of perpetual questioning. For in Mozart, the feeling of wellbeing is often unstable, fragile. Perhaps, in this quartet, he transcribed his own perception of a human experience. Indeed legend has it, that he composed this quartet while his wife was giving birth to their first child. We therefore approached this movement, with a kind of maternal gentleness, in an attempt to convey that tenderness tinged with the anxiety which pervades it. Yet the work is not, for all that, wholly pessimistic. The final movement, quite dance-like, leads us into a radiant D major.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTAwOTQx