Written during a time of immense change in Mozart’s life following his departure from the Salzburg court and the loss of his mother, his Quartet for Flute and Strings was composed as a commission for amateur flutist, Ferdinand de Jean, and combines his wit, improvisation methods of the time, and the Classical-era structure. Mozart continued to hone his work with wind instruments and by 1787, found himself in Prague surrounded with immense talent. While his original Don Giovanni opera did feature a large wind section, this transcription by oboist Johann Georg Triebensee published three years after the work’s premiere, brings the winds to the forefront. Composed toward the later years of the 18th century and of Haydn’s own life, his “Sunrise” quartet, named for the arching opening theme, sees a composer turning away from large symphonic works and wind instrumentation to create one of his most limpid and sensual melodic inventions.
Late 18th Century Classics

Playlist
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Quartet for Flute and Strings in G major, K. 285a (1777–78)
Ransom Wilson, flute; Stella Chen, violin; Matthew Lipman, viola; Nicholas Canellakis, cello
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in B-flat major for Strings, Hob. III: 78, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise” (1797)
Schumann Quartet (Erik Schumann, Ken Schumann, violin; Liisa Randalu, viola; Mark Schumann, cello)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (arr. for winds by Josef Triebensee, 1790): Selections from Don Giovanni for Two Oboes, Two Clarinets, Two Bassoons, and Two Horns
James Austin Smith, Stephen Taylor, oboe; Romie de GuiseLanglois, Tommaso Lonquich, clarinet; Marc Goldberg, Peter Kolkay, bassoon; David Jolley, Eric Reed, horn