String Quartet No. 21 (Mozart)

{{Short description|1789 composition by W. A. Mozart}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}

File:Mozart drawing Doris Stock 1789.jpg

The String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575, was written in June 1789 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It has acquired the nickname The Violet, used for example in Hans Keller's chapter of The Mozart Companion. It is the first of the Prussian Quartets.

There are four movements:

1. Allegretto, in D major
2. Andante, in A major
3. Menuetto: Allegretto, in D major with a trio section in G major
4. Allegretto in D major

The quartet was written for (and in Mozart's private 'thematic catalogue') was described as being dedicated to the King of Prussia,{{cite journal|last=Tyson|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Tyson|date=1975 |title=New Light on Mozart's 'Prussian' Quartets |journal=The Musical Times|volume=116 |issue=1584 |pages=126–130 |doi=10.2307/1193913}} Friedrich Wilhelm II, an amateur cellist. Of the three Prussian Quartets, K. 575 was the only one Mozart referred to in this way. The quartet was written in a similar style to the quartets of Joseph Haydn. Mozart and his friend Karl Lichnowsky met the king in Potsdam in April 1789. Mozart played before the king in Berlin on 26 May 1789, then returned to Vienna.{{cite book |title=The New Grove Mozart |page=154 |isbn=0-333-34199-6 |last=Sadie|first=Stanley|author-link=Stanley Sadie|date=11 November 1982}}

A typical performance lasts around 24 minutes.

The middle part of the song "Mozart's House" by UK based indie electronic band Clean Bandit samples the piece.{{cite web |title=Clean Bandit: A classical approach to pop music |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27258930 |work=www.bbc.co.uk |date=26 May 2014 |access-date=1 April 2023}}