String Duo No. 2, K. 424 (Mozart)
Movements
i Adagio-Allegro ii Andante cantabile iii Andante grazioso
Notes
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s String Duo No. 2 in B-flat major for violin and viola, K. 424, the second of the two Mozart wrote to complete Michael Haydn’s set of six for the Archbishop Colloredo, was written in the summer of 1783.
The last movement is a theme with six variations and a coda. As a whole, this duo blends in better with Haydn’s four because the viola is more limited to providing harmony than in K. 423. The set of six was presented as all Haydn’s, and Colloredo was unable to “detect in them Mozart’s obvious workmanship.
