String Quintet (Schubert) No. 3 in C major, K. 515 and Beethoven's String Quintet, Op. 29 in C major. According to Charles Rosen, the opening theme of Schubert's work emulates many characteristics of the Mozart quintet's opening theme, such as decorative turns, irregular phrase lengths, and rising staccato arpeggios (the latter appear only in Schubert's recapitulation). But whereas the string quintets of Mozart and Beethoven are composed for a string quartet augmented by a second viola, Schubert adopts a somewhat unconventional instrumentation, employing two cellos instead of two violas, creating richness in the lower register. Before Schubert, Luigi Boccherini had replaced the second
String Quintet No. 4 (Mozart) dirge or lament that is even slower than the previous movement. The music wallows in this dark area for a few minutes before reaching an ominous pause. At this point, Mozart launches into the ebullient G major Allegro, which creates a stark contrast between it and the movements that preceded it. Critics have often questioned how such an insouciant and carefree finale could be tacked on after three-plus movements of intense pathos, even though it conforms perfectly to the Classical understanding of a finale as resolving everything that preceded it. String Quintet No. 4 (Mozart) The String Quintet No. 4