42. Practice Makes Perfect

Mozart: Violin Sonata No. 23 in D Major, K. 306 Haydn: String Quartet No. 59 in G minor, Op. 74 (“Rider”) For most contemporary composers, writing a dozen string quartets would be a fairly large feat. Since about Beethoven’s time, and since composers have been writing more for themselves than for a patron or church, the sheer volume of individual compositional output has, for the most part, shrunk. Today, we take a listen to a few pieces from before that time: Mozart’s 23rd violin sonata and Haydn’s 59th string quartet. Haydn wrote 68 numbered string quartets. As a court-employed musician, he composed new pieces for every house concert, soiree and dance party the count cared to throw. Before the Haydn, we’ll hear Mozart’s 23rd violin sonata. In this later sonata, Mozart began to branch out a bit, abandoning the short, two-movement form in use in earlier classical music, and instead writing a more expansive, three-movement piece.