String Quintet Cello,Viola,Violin - Level 4 - Digital Download
SKU: A0.1447120
Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Arranged by Stephen Levintow. Classical. 69 pages. Cypress Publishing #1026899. Published by Cypress Publishing (A0.1447120).
Soon after moving to Vienna in 1781, Mozart wrote what turned out to be his last, and finest, three serenades for wind ensemble. He himself arranged the one in c minor, Köchel 388, for string quintet (2 violins, 2 violas and cello), and that version is known as K. 406. Most of the serenade in B-Flat Major, K 361, sometimes called Gran Partita or Serenade for 13 Instruments, was also arranged for the same quintet combination, apparently by someone else, with the movements divided up between Quintets No. 6 and 7 in the second volume of the standard Peters Edition set of parts for Mozart’s string quintets.
The remaining serenade, K. 375, is appearing in a string quintet arrangement for the first time that I know of. While it does not have the dramatic intensity of K. 388/406 or the grand sweep of K. 361, it is a worthy companion to the other two works. He composed it “carefully”, as he explained in a letter to his father, and the piece is full of striking details that show this. In the first movement, the second subject is surprisingly in a dark minor key, and the development is based on it. But it does not appear in the recapitulation, replaced instead by a new major key theme. The first of the two minuets also has a brooding trio in minor.
The heart of the work is the Adagio, one of Mozart’s great slow movements, and it should be better known. The long-spun overlapping melodies work particularly well for strings. The finale starts as a conventional Rondo, but breaks off into an extended fugal section (again starting in a minor key!) that gives the movement weight and power beyond a typical formula rondo.
This arrangement transposes the original E-Flat Major to D Major, to take advantage of string sonority while making some of the passage work lie better for the instruments. Score and parts follow the current convention of listing the composer’s middle name as Amadeus, even though he did not favor it: His only recorded use was a letter he signed Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozartus, clearly intended as a joke. He preferred the Italian or French versions, Amadeo or Amadé, of his German given name Gottlieb (which he also rarely if ever used).
CYPRESS PUBLISHING is pleased to be the imprint for arrangements for string ensemble by Stephen Levintow. He is a free lance professional violist and violinist specializing in chamber music, who began making string quartet and trio arrangements for wedding, party and corporate events, to expand the repertory or to improve on existing versions. Selections include unusual pieces by both familiar and lesser-known composers, plus standard classical and popular favorites.
The goal is to produce high-quality, musically satisfying arrangements faithful to the composer’s original material, yet sight-readable in most cases by working professionals or intermediate to advanced students. The full range of normal string technique is employed, while avoiding unnecessary technical complexity. Melodic material is distributed throughout the four voices where appropriate, to maintain listener and performer interest. All parts and scores are set in Sibelius© software format, with careful attention to legibility and page turns.
