Mozart in 5/4?


The rather skeezy looking Kiwanis Sale LP is London CM 9061, Mozart Piano Quartets K.478 in g and K.493 in Eb, performed by pianist Clifford Curzon and members of the Amadeus Quartet. The liner notes by Robert Boas contain this intriguing note about the first movement of K.478:

"...a theme in 5/4 time (not so written in the score) appears, to which Mr. Eric Blom has drawn attention..."

A theme in 5 would seem very unusual in Mozart, so what is this theme, and who is this Eric Blom guy?

Here is the Piano Quartet No. 1 in g, K.478, and may this be the worst LP rip you ever hear:

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Rondo (Allegro)



Well this morning I dug up the LP cover again and decided to find out who Eric Blom is.

Blom was a noted English music lexicographer, having edited the 5th edition of Grove's. Anyway, I went to MIRLYN to see if they had any works of Blom at the University of Michigan here in Ann Arbor, and I found his book on Mozart, and it is AVAILABLE ONLINE!

Here is a passage from the score that looked like it might be the one, just because when you hear it in passing it seems to go over the bar lines. It starts right at rehearsal letter "C":


Here is Blom's commentary:

Pretty amazing to be able to dig something like that up in 10 minutes or so, on the PC in my basement, at 5 in the morning!