Humanities West presents a performance, and an elucidation, of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516, composed in Vienna in 1787. It is widely considered to be among Mozart's greatest and most tragic works. But the Quintet is not only “tragic”; it is a “tragedy” in the mode of the ancient Greeks: the enactment of the story of a hero who meets a catastrophic fate.

Mozart scholar Steve Machtinger will demonstrate how Mozart imbued the work with musical symbols that convey its tragic narrative. The program will include a live performance by the Hatzfeld Quintet of all four movements of Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor.