<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For all its popularity, there is no real origin story for Mozart\u2019s Serenade No. 13 in G Major, better known as \u201cA Little Night Music.\u201d Why he wrote it remains a mystery, and a possible fifth movement \u2014 a minuet and trio \u2014 has long since disappeared. Its title means \u201ca short serenade\u201d (the German term Nachtmusik being the equivalent of the Italian notturno<\/em>, a term Mozart also used). In 18th century Vienna, serenades were occasional works, used as background music for wedding parties, birthdays, and other gatherings, often taking place in a garden or park. Mozart composed several of these in Salzburg, but after moving to Vienna in 1781, his output tapered off, as he grew increasingly preoccupied with symphonies and operas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Number 13 was Mozart\u2019s final serenade, composed during a break from his work on Don Giovanni.<\/em> Perhaps some of that opera\u2019s adventurous spirit spilled over into this piece, written for two violins, viola, cello, and double bass (and often played by a string orchestra). In phrase after phrase, the four movements show Mozart\u2019s unique combination of sophistication and simplicity, elegance and precision. The extant movements are titled Allegro, Romance (Andante), Menuetto (Allegretto), and Rondo (Allegro). <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozart\u2019s sister Maria Anna was, like her younger brother, a child piano prodigy, and even enjoyed top billing when they toured together. But her musical career quickly fizzled when she turned 18 and married a local magistrate. Nannerl, as she was known to family and friends, taught piano at points during her adult life, but none of her original compositions survived. Yet something of Nannerl\u2019s talent can be gleaned from the Concerto for Two Pianos, a work Wolfgang composed for and performed with his virtuosic sister in Salzburg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1779 Mozart had recently returned from a tour of Paris, Mannheim, and Munich, where he was exposed to the latest styles and techniques. He began to focus on double and triple concertos, finding that he could fashion engaging dialogues between multiple instruments. In K. 365, passages are lobbed between the solo pianos, creating a stereo-like effect when the first piano introduces thematic material and the second piano echoes it in a lower octave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Such dialogues pepper the buoyant first movement, which opens grandly and proceeds with many beguiling turns of phrase. The second movement begins on a profound note, with a lilting oboe melody, before the mood turns livelier, and the pianists offer some playful and elegant banter. The third movement has a witty and carefree air, full of unexpected pivots and hairpin turns. Mozart was clearly energized by the dual-soloist format, and this joyous work remains far more than a simple curiosity in his catalog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mozart was skilled at the art of recycling music from one format to another, taking a celebratory piece for a garden party and turning it into a pointedly \u201cserious\u201d work for the concert hall. In 1776, he composed an eight-movement serenade for the wedding of Elisabeth Haffner, the daughter of Salzburg\u2019s late mayor Sigmund Haffner, Sr. The piece used the full forces available in town: pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns, trumpets, drums, and strings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This was so successful that six years later, when Elisabeth\u2019s brother, Sigmund Haffner, Jr. was to be elevated to the aristocracy, he naturally asked Mozart to write music for the occasion. By then, however, Mozart had moved to Vienna and was characteristically swamped with other projects, including his opera, The Abduction from the Seraglio,<\/em> as well as his own wedding plans. Though unenthusiastic, Mozart obliged. Eventually, he ended up reworking the earlier piece to create a second \u201cHaffner\u201d Serenade, four movements of which were then excerpted to create the \u201cHaffner\u201d Symphony<\/p>\n\n\n\n The \u201cHaffner\u201d Symphony maintained the serenade\u2019s celebratory spirit even as a march movement and one of the two minuets were dropped. Flutes and clarinets, both previously unavailable in Salzburg, were added. The opening Allegro is to be \u201cplayed with great fire,\u201d as it sets out with a bold opening theme that leaps two octaves followed by darting scale passages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The middle two movements inherit the serenade\u2019s lighter sound world, with a graceful andante speckled with operatic embellishments, and a minuet full of regal pomp. Mozart wanted the finale played “as fast as possible.\u201d Its main theme is drawn almost note for note from a triumphal aria from The Abduction from the Seraglio<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Brian Wise<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525 For all its popularity, there is no real origin story for Mozart\u2019s Serenade No. 13 in G Major, better known as \u201cA Little Night […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[386],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-273756","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-program-notes"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=273756"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/273756\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=273756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=273756"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coloradomusicfestival.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=273756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mozart, Concerto in E-Flat Major for Two Pianos, K. 365 <\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mozart, Symphony No. 35 in D Major, K. 385 \u201cHaffner\u201d <\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n