Flute Quartet No. 1 in D Major
K. 285, KV285
A common Mozartian myth is that he hated the flute. This can hardly be true—he wouldn’t have composed The Magic Flute or the wonderful parts he gave the instrument in his orchestral music if so. It seems more likely that he disliked a particular flautist, or the task of having to compose for him when, as a 21-year-old away from home in Mannheim, he was more interested in falling in love with Aloysia Weber, the sister of the girl he would eventually marry. The flautist, Ferdinand Dejean, was a surgeon and amateur player. Mozart lied in his letters home about how much music Dejean had commissioned and how much he was paying. In the event, Mozart wrote only two quartets for Dejean at this time. But how could anyone hearing the Flute Quartet No. 1 imagine it was composed under protest? Mozart’s gift for effortless melody is evident throughout, from the graceful opening movement, via the heartfelt central “Adagio”, to the supple finale.
