Kegelstatt TrioAnother very interesting work Mozart wrote for viola is the Kegelstatt Trio K498, for clarinet, viola and piano. According to the tradition, it was composed while Mozart was playing skittles (Kegelstatt, in German). This trio is for a very unusual combination of instruments, there are more compositions for this group, by Schumann, Bruch and Reinecke. Several times Mozart composed works having specific people in mind. For example, he composed the horn concertos for a friend horn player, the piano concertos for himself, arias for particular singers and so on. The Kegelstatt trio was composed for his piano pupil Franziska Jacquin, for his friend clarinet player Anton Stadler and for himself to play the viola. Yes, Wolfgang played viola ! That’s why he wrote beautifully for it, wonderful works like the Sinfonia Concertante for violin viola and orchestra, the string quintets with two violas, and other works. For his friend Stadler, Mozart composed also the clarinet quintet and the clarinet concerto, one of his last works. The Kegelstatt trio is a very intimate composition, you can imagine this three friends enjoying themselves playing lovely music. It was published with the indication of the more usual instrumentation, that is as a Trio for piano accompanied by a violin and a viola (adding that the violin part could be played by a clarinet). It was very common to publish a work giving indications of other instruments that could play it. It was just easier to sell it, and to more people too. The movementsThis trio is in three movements, Andante, Menuetto and Allegretto. The viola and clarinet have both a similar, mellow voice and Mozart writes in a way that allows them, and the piano as well, to appear in turn as the soloists or accompanying each other. I especially like the third movement, very singing from beginning to end.
To get an idea of it, listen to samples of the Kegelstatt Trio, together with Schumann's and Bruch's trios, and click the picture to download an MP3 file.
You can also
download the MIDI file
download the score
Then if you prefer already printed and bound parts and wish to buy them, you can
click here.
You'll get separate parts for piano, clarinet, viola and violin (instead of the clarinet). Enjoy this beautiful music.
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