FLINDERS QUARTET
Elizabeth Sellars • violin
Wilma Smith • violin
Helen Ireland • viola
Zoe Knighton • cello

AGATHA YIM, POLYPHONIC PICTURES filming and editing
ABC CLASSIC Producer • Jennifer Mills / Engineer • Niyi Adepoyibi

Filmed August 2025 in the Primrose Potter Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre, Wurundjeri Country/Southbank

Flinders Quartet is deeply grateful for the support of project partner, Creative Victoria, as well as all of our wonderful Fifth String donors.

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART (1756-1791)
Adagio and Fugue in C minor, K.546 (composed 1788)

The Adagio and Fugue in C minor is a compact, intense piece that combines two opposing worlds - slow introspection and strict counterpoint in a way that feels both monumental and tightly coiled.

This wasn’t music Mozart wrote for a string quartet originally. The Fugue began life as a keyboard piece (K.426) in 1783, but five years later, Mozart reworked it for strings, adding a dramatic slow introduction that sets the tone for what follows. Why? It’s not entirely clear, but many have speculated that this was Mozart engaging directly with the legacy of J.S. Bach, whose music he had discovered only in his adult life through the influence of Baron van Swieten. The fugue is not merely an academic exercise; it’s emotionally raw, driven, and stormy.

In the quartet world, we often associate Mozart with elegance and charm: the silvery grace of his early quartets, or the conversational brilliance of the “Haydn” set. But this piece reminds us that he could summon intensity and depth just as effectively. The Adagio is full of weight and portent, while the Fugue surges forward with almost Beethovenian determination.

Despite its brevity, this work demands concentration from both performers and listeners. It’s a musical dialogue with the past, but also a kind of self-interrogation. What happens when we take something rigid and intellectual, like a fugue, and pour raw feeling into it?