Quatuor Mosaïques . Patrick Cohen

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was the first composer to rebel against the subservient and dependent position of the court musician. He came to Vienna in 1781 with the idea of making a career for himself as a freelancer. From that moment onwards, he lived on the income from his concerts, commissions and keyboard lessons. His Piano Concerto KV414 was written in this context: the work was designed so that it could be played without the wind section, by amateurs in their living room, to the accompaniment of a string quartet alone. In fact the piano was by far the favourite instrument of many Viennese music lovers, and Mozart was only too well aware of it. He also wrote his Piano and Violin Sonata KV379 during his first year in Vienna. In 1782, when he dedicated his six string quartets, including KV421, to Joseph Haydn, Mozart's genius had fully developed, and he thanked his old teacher with music that matched his in mastery. The well-known Piano Sonata in A, with its famous Rondo 'alla turca', can also be placed in this context. Although written a few years earlier (Paris, 1778), it will undoubtedly have resounded in the Viennese salons, where 'janissary' tunes were very popular.