- Mozart completed this piece on October 16, 1785, 1 and it was published in Vienna in December of that year. 2
- Mozart had originally agreed to publish a series of piano quartets with Viennese publisher F.A. Hoffmeister. However, when this, the first, was released, the publisher complained that the public didn’t like it and wouldn’t buy it. The work was intended for the amateur market and may have been too challenging for Hoffmeister’s buyers. Mozart did not write any more piano quartets for Hoffmeister. He did compose a second piano quartet in 1786 (K. 493), possibly envisioned for the Hoffmeister contract, but he published it through a different publisher, Artaria. 3
- Unlike most of his earlier works, Mozart composed these piano quartets specifically for publication, rather than for an upcoming performance opportunity. Considering that, it is rather a pity that his publishing experience was negative, thus depriving us of the further projected Mozart piano quartets.4
Sources
- Cliff Eisen and Stanley Sadie, “Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 15, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278233.
- Ernst Herttrich, preface to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Klavierquartette KV 478 und 493 (Munich: G. Henle, 1997), iii.
- Ibid.
- Eisen and Stanley Sadie, “Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus,” Grove Music Online.
Cut IDs
11717 23016 44835