“Kegelstatt” Trio in E flat major, K. 498 (Mozart)
Movements
i Andante ii Menuetto iii Rondeaux: Allegretto
Notes
Mozart wrote the piano trio on 10 sheets in Vienna and dated the manuscript on 5 August 1786. The German word Kegelstatt means “a place where skittles are played”, akin to a duckpin bowling alley. Mozart wrote that he composed the 12 Duos for Two (French) Horns (not basset horns as is commonly thought), K. 487, “while playing skittles”; on the first page of the autograph manuscript of K. 487, Mozart inscribed the following: “Wienn den 27.t Jullius 1786 untern Kegelscheiben” (Vienna, 27 July 1786 while playing skittles). A week and a half later, Mozart composed and dated the trio E♭ K. 498. He entered this work into his list of compositions simply as: “Ein Terzett für klavier, Clarinett und Viola” (A trio for piano, clarinet and viola). There is no evidence that Mozart gave any nickname to the K. 498 trio; the moniker Kegelstatt first appears ascribed to the K. 498 trio in Ludwig von Köchel’s 1862 thematic catalogue of Mozart’s music.
