Serial Analog
of a Movement by W.A. Mozart (Allegro, K.478)
on a purpose-built tone row
Op.75
| Date |
Duration |
Download |
| 24 June 2018 |
14'39" |
Realization (.MP3) |
Score (.PDF) |
| 20.1 MB |
615 KB |
Unlike Beethoven's masterful Op.29 parody of Mozart's string quintets (and of the Mannheim style in general), this piece was not intended to be a joke. It is a demonstration-piece or a technical exercize illustrating a potential serial solution to a complex diatonic equation. Every single attack, duration, and dynamic in the original Mozart piano quartet movement is replaced with a corresponding note from the purpose-built tone row. The row was constructed in such a way that the powerful unison motive beginning the movement (and recurring frequently throughout) could be exactly reproduced by simply introducing a recursive ostinato from the third note in the row back to the second before continuing.
There is a personal backstory of my relationship with this little bit of Mozart. Several million years ago, during Basic Training in the Army - when we were all running (er, "double-timing") in full field gear, with steel pots on our heads and M-16s at port arms before us - I used to hear this movement in my head as a distraction from the nausea and fatigue the strenuous exercize inspired. Wolfgang helped me make it through to graduation; and so I have now rewarded him by serially fracturing the opening movement of one of his great masterpieces. Oh, well.
A delightful YouTube rendition of the entire original Mozart Quartet from the Ravinia Festival in 2012.