Duo in G major, K.423 for violin and viola
Allegro
Adagio
Allegro
In 1783 Mozart and his wife travelled to Salzburg to meet the librettist Varesco in order to work together on the opera "L’Oca del Cairo" (K.422). There he was visited by Joseph Haydn’s brother Michael, also a composer, who was ill and unable to meet a commission from his patron the Prince Archbishop.
Showing characteristic kindness and spontaneity Mozart offered to write the two Sonate a due (Duo sonatas) required. Hence the two Duos K.423 and K.424 were first performed as the work of Michael Haydn. However, Mozart cannot have found the fulfillment of this favour uncongenial. He preferred to play the viola during chamber music sessions and was perfectly acquainted with the virtues of the instrument; what is more, he loved it. The evidence is clear; in Mozart’s chamber music the viola does not take second place to the violin; it is rather an introverted voice willing to establish a dialogue with the exuberant violin. He had already experimented with this combination both technically and emotionally in the celebrated Sinfonia Concertante in E flat, and with triumphant results.
Mozart’s Duos are free from instrumental tricks and musical gimmickry. We find in them a wealth of ideas and musical integrity, with a restrained sense of drama. The dialogue’s strength prevails in both scores, with an undercurrent of solemnity that must have contrasted vividly with the rococo and theatrical atmosphere of the Salzburg palace where the two works were heard for the first time.
R. G. Bratby 1999
Copyright Classical Notes.co.uk 2000
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