String Quartet No. 22 in B‑Flat Major

Money was often tight during the decade Mozart spent as a freelance musician in Vienna. In 1789, however, he spotted a likely business opportunity with King Frederick William II of Prussia and travelled to Potsdam for an audience with the monarch. Although a position there was not forthcoming, he nevertheless left with a commission for six string quartets. Frederick William was a cultured man, like his uncle and predecessor, Frederick the Great, and an able cellist. Returning to Vienna, Mozart embarked immediately upon the project but ultimately completed only three “Prussian” Quartets, calculated to flatter the king. He was careful in these quartets to share out the solo writing so that the royal cello is offered more than its traditional role of playing the bass line. Accordingly, in String Quartet No. 22, the cello sets the scene in both the first and second movements with singing, upper-register melodies, and plays a prominent part in the lilting “Menuetto” and light-hearted finale.