String Quintet No. 2 in C minor (after the Wind Serenade K. 388/384a), K. 406
沃尔夫冈·阿马德乌斯·莫扎特
Mozart’s String Quintet No. 2 in C minor, K. 406 (1788) is his own transcription of the dramatic Wind Serenade in C minor, K. 388/384a—an unusually dark, tightly argued score within a genre often associated with sociable entertainment. Recast for two violins, two violas, and cello, the work brings Mozart’s most serious Harmonie writing into the intimate, conversational world of the string quintet.[3]
Background and Context
Mozart’s string quintets occupy a special place in his chamber music: they extend the string quartet by adding a second viola, enriching the middle register and enabling denser contrapuntal writing and warmer harmonic shading. In Vienna in the later 1780s, Mozart returned to the medium with striking ambition—above all in the paired originals String Quintet in C major, K. 515 and String Quintet in G minor, K. 516 (both 1787). K. 406 belongs to the same expressive orbit, even though it began life as an octet for winds.[3]
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The source of the quintet is the Wind Serenade in C minor, K. 388/384a, written for the Viennese Harmonie (pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons). That original already stands apart from most serenades: instead of outdoor geniality, it offers taut motivic work, learned counterpoint, and a serious C-minor profile—one of Mozart’s most characterful minor keys.[2] When Mozart later re-scored the piece for strings as K. 406, he effectively invited listeners to hear the music less as “wind-band repertoire” and more as a concentrated chamber argument.
Composition and Dedication
The String Quintet in C minor, K. 406 was made in Vienna in 1788, when Mozart was 32.[3] Unlike many works from the period, it is not straightforwardly documented in Mozart’s own thematic catalogue—perhaps because, as the New Mozart Edition notes, it is “simply an arrangement” of the earlier serenade.[3]
The scoring is the standard “viola quintet” formation:
- Strings: violin I, violin II, viola I, viola II, violoncello[1]
No dedicatee is securely attached to the arrangement in the standard reference summaries; it is best understood as a practical and artistic re-imagining of a work Mozart valued, giving it a second life in a different performance world.
Form and Musical Character
Mozart preserves the serenade’s four-movement plan, but the change of medium subtly alters the rhetoric: winds project blocks of color and antiphonal exchanges; strings can sustain, blend, and shade lines with continuous bowing, making the counterpoint feel more inward and “worked over.” This is one reason the piece deserves attention today: it lets listeners compare Mozart’s thinking about texture, register, and balance across two quintessentially Viennese ensembles.
The movements are:
- I. Allegro (C minor)
- II. Andante (E♭ major)
- III. Menuetto in canone (C minor) — Trio I and Trio II
- IV. Allegro (C minor)[2]
Particular fascination lies in the third movement: Mozart’s Menuetto in canone is, as the title announces, a canon—a learned device in which one voice follows another at a fixed distance. In the string version, the two violas can make this “strict” writing especially clear, while still sounding like real dance music rather than a classroom exercise.
Across the outer movements, the music often feels closer to a symphonic argument than to light serenade style: compact motifs are developed insistently, and the harmonic turns repeatedly return to C minor with an almost theatrical inevitability. If the later “great” string quintets are expansive, K. 406 is concentrated—its intensity comes from compression.
Reception and Legacy
Historically, K. 406 has lived a double life: as a celebrated wind serenade (a cornerstone of Harmonie repertoire) and as a string quintet that slips slightly outside the “canonical” run of Mozart’s original quintets. Yet modern performers increasingly value the arrangement precisely for what it reveals: Mozart’s ability to translate an established score into a new medium without mere copying, sharpening voice-leading and exposing inner parts that can be masked by wind timbre.
In concert programming, the work can be a compelling bridge between Mozart’s wind writing and his mature chamber style. It also broadens the emotional map of the string quintet genre, reminding us that—alongside gracious divertimento and lyrical ease—Mozart could make this ensemble speak in a darker, more contrapuntal, and unmistakably Viennese C-minor accent.[2]
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[1] IMSLP work page with instrumentation overview and identification of K. 406 as Mozart’s arrangement of K. 388/384a.
[2] Wikipedia: Serenade No. 12 in C minor, K. 388/384a — original wind scoring and movement outline; notes transcription as K. 406.
[3] Digital Mozart Edition (Mozarteum): New Mozart Edition volume (String Quintets) — editorial discussion of K. 406 as an arrangement and its 1788 Vienna context.