Mozart String Quartet, K. 465, "Dissonance"

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

Joshua Weilerstein

Arts, Performing Arts, Music

4.9 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 28 May 2026

⏱️ 49 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

You might be wondering: why on earth would I choose a piece that is literally called "Dissonance" when I was looking for something a bit simpler or cleaner to talk about on the show today? Actually, Mozart's Dissonance quartet, probably his most famous and beloved quartet, was not called "Dissonance" by Mozart, and the rest of the piece is thought of as one of Mozart's most outgoing and cheerful works, though I think there's a bit more to it than that.

This quartet was part of a set of quartets dedicated to his friend and mentor Joseph Haydn, the father of the String Quartet. Upon their publication, Mozart wrote to Haydn: "Behold here, famous man and dearest friend, my six children. They are, to be sure, the fruit of long and arduous work, yet some friends have encouraged me to assume that I shall see this work rewarded to some extent at least, and this flatters me into believing that these children shall one day offer me some comfort."

The final one of this set of six quartets is the one we're going to talk about today, the one that has been dubbed "Dissonance." This single dissonance caused massive controversy in its time, which we'll get to later, but it is a fascinating insight into the rules of harmony at the time. Our sojourns into late Romanticism over the last few weeks, and especially my conversation with Case Scaglione about Wagner and the Tristan Chord, should help us understand the intensely heated debates that arose over that chord I just played you. So today on the show, we'll spend some time on that famous dissonance, then dive right into this glorious quartet, exploring Mozart's unparalleled ability to write the most glorious melodies and the most perfect harmonies.

Recording: Alban Berg Quartet

First Sight Analysis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IctjJOMU9dk

Produced by: Charlie Koczela

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to Sticky Notes, the Classical Music Podcast.
0:08.2	My name is Joshua Weilerstein.
0:10.1	I'm a conductor and I'm the music director of the Orchestra Nacional de Lille and the
0:14.0	chief conductor of the Allborg Symphony.
0:16.6	This podcast is for anyone who loves classical music, works in the field, or is just getting ready
0:21.8	to dive in to this amazing world of incredible music. Before we get started, I want to thank my
0:26.7	new Patreon sponsors, Ryan, Martin, Will, Debra, James, Dan, Nico, Helen, Jack, Flavia, Natalie, Julian, and all of my other Patreon sponsors for making
0:41.6	season 11 possible. If you'd like to support the show, please head over to patreon.com
0:46.5	slash sticky notes podcast. And if you are a fan of the show, please take a moment to give us a
0:51.0	rating or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. It is greatly appreciated.
0:56.4	So I just had a wonderful week in Leal with Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, Get On Klein's Partita for Strings,
1:02.5	and Shostakovich's second piano concerto with the amazing Dennis Kojyukin. But I actually just wanted
1:07.9	to take another moment to talk about the sound levels and things on the show
1:11.3	because I've received so much feedback, and funnily enough, sometimes it's been kind of the
1:16.9	opposite feedback, like my voice is too loud and the music is too soft, or the music is too loud,
1:21.7	and my voice is too soft. But I ended up getting in touch with a producer, Actually, he got in touch with me named Charlie,
1:29.3	who has done an incredible job mastering the show. The List Fast Symphony was the debut of that new
1:36.9	sound. I hope that it worked for everybody. It sounded great to me. And we're going to be continuing
1:42.5	that relationship going forward.
1:44.9	So a huge, huge thank you to Charlie for all of his work.
1:49.8	I'm really happy to share this episode on one of the great masterpieces in chamber music,
1:54.6	Mozart's dissonance quartet.
	...

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