Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart's earliest work involving the clarinet, a Divertimento in E flat for two clarinets and two horns, K. 113, was composed in Milan during November 1771. It was to herald a number of exceptional masterpieces featuring the instrument, which culminated in the Clarinet Concerto, K. 622, Mozart's final instrumental work, and the Clarinet Quintet, K. 581.

Another outstanding creation involving the instrument was written under circumstances that, if popular tradition is to be believed, seem highly improbable. Nevertheless, it is widely held that Mozart composed the Trio in E flat for clarinet, viola, and piano, K. 498 while participating in a game of skittles; this would account for its nickname, the "Kegelstatt" Trio ("Kegelstatt" = "Skittle Alley"). The score is dated August 5, 1786, and the work is, by any reckoning, extremely dense and cerebral, and hardly the outcome of any frivolous diversion.

The Trio largely eschewes virtuosity in favor of exploiting the natural lyrical qualities of the clarinet and viola. The result is what has been aptly termed one of his most perfectly integrated compositions, with an interplay among the three instruments full of delightfully subtle touches. According to Mozart's friend and informal pupil Caroline von Pichler the trio was composed for Franziska von Jaquin, another pupil, and a member of a family who were close friends of the Mozarts. It is probable it was first performed by Franziska accompanied by Mozart, and the outstanding clarinetist Anton Stadler, for whom Mozart composed a number of works (including the above-mentioned Clarinet Quintet in A, K. 581 and Concerto in A, K. 621). In 1788, the trio was published in Vienna by Artaria with an optional violin part as an alternative to the clarinet.

Set in three movements, the "Kegelstatt" Trio opens with an Andante in the tonic key of E flat, featuring complex dialogue between these three unusual instrumental collaborators. As French musicologist Jean Gallois observes, "delicacy and intimacy are skillfully expressed in the questions and answers exchanged by the protagonists. The second motif, on the clarinet, is also similar to the first theme; there are no great conflicts, therefore. On the contrary, a dialogue is gradually built up, a series of confidences like those one shares with friends." The B flat Menuetto, which follows, is also built upon contrasts, though the main theme is announced in unequivocal terms at the outset. Interestingly, the main theme of the trio section also reappears at the close of the recapitulation. The work ends with a dazzling and exhilarating Rondeaux -- the French term here substituted for the more customary "Rondo." The final movement is remarkable for its two intermezzo-like passages in which the piano comes to the fore. The work ends in sublime fashion, as the clarinet offers commentary on earlier ideas.