Mozart chamber music explained

Why chamber music suits the room

Chamber music is written for a few players, with one person to a part, and it was meant for rooms about the size of the Sala Terrena. The organiser describes the series as chamber music of the Viennese Classical period in a historic setting, with the players close to the audience. In a hall this size you hear the interplay between instruments, not a blended wash. That is the difference from an orchestra, and it is why a quartet can feel more personal than a larger evening in a palace.

The divertimento

The name comes from the Italian for 'to amuse'. A divertimento is light music for a small group, mostly from the 18th century and often played at social gatherings. The form has no fixed shape: late-18th-century examples follow either a dance-suite pattern or the layout of another chamber genre, and they range from one to nine movements. After about 1780 the word became the usual label for light after-dinner music. Mozart wrote several, and his Divertimento in E-flat, K. 563, for string trio, is described as a serious work comparable to his quartets and quintets.

The serenade

Serenade, cassation, notturno and Nachtmusik are listed as close relatives of the divertimento, music for an evening audience. The organiser names serenades next to divertimenti and string quartets as what the ensemble plays. Because these forms overlap and the genre has no fixed shape, treat a programme title as a mood: light evening music for strings, in contrast to the more closely argued string quartet.

The string quartet

A string quartet is two violins, a viola and a cello, four more-or-less equal partners. Haydn is credited by most authorities with giving the form its present shape, and the standard layout has four movements: a fast opening in sonata form, a slow movement, a minuet and trio, and a fast finale. Mozart wrote 23 string quartets, and six of them, written from 1782 to 1785, are dedicated to Haydn. The organiser says the Sala Terrena series began with string quartets, so they are the core of what it does, and a listener who knows the Haydn and Mozart quartets will find familiar ground in the programme.

The piano trio

A piano trio is a piano with a violin and a cello. In Haydn's trios the piano leads and the cello often doubles its bass line, which is why they were nicknamed accompanied sonatas. Mozart's five late trios are generally seen as the point where the three instruments became equals, and Beethoven extended that equality. The organiser says trios were added to the series after the quartets. If your date's programme lists a piano trio, expect a different balance from a quartet, with the piano as a third voice.

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What this means on the night

Programmes vary by date: the organiser names Mozart and Haydn, and the booking page adds Schubert and Beethoven. So do not count on a particular piece, and do not choose a date for one title. Read the programme for your date and treat the composer, not the piece, as the reliable thing. Players often wear period costume, according to the organiser. The concert runs about 90 minutes, which leaves room for several movements or a short group of works.