Post by erik on Jun 13, 2015 17:28:59 GMT -5
Besides a lot of other forms, Mozart also excelled, indeed specialized, in the form known as the Divertimento. The 11th of his examples in this form is in this week's Classical Works Spotlight.
Mozart: DIVERTIMENTO NO. 11 IN D MAJOR, K. 251
Though he didn’t live to be a particularly old man, dying before he could even turn 36, Mozart was nevertheless able to compose in many forms. Symphonies, instrumental concertos, sacred music, serenades, and operas were genres where he excelled. But there was also another form in which he seemed to have held sway practically above all who came before (even his great friend and contemporary Franz Joseph Haydn), and who have come since: the form of the Divertimento. Often he would compose for various groupings of instruments for special occasions, primarily when he was still a wunderkind in Salzburg in the 1770s. This is the case with the Divertimento No. 11, which he composed early in 1776, at the age of 20. Mozart’s own autograph on this work, which is scored for a chamber-sized orchestra of a single oboe, two French horns, and strings, is dated from July 1776, and was reportedly composed to celebrate the name-day of his sister Nannerl on the 26th of that month (hence the work sometimes being called the “Nannerl Septet”). The 11th Divertimento is very typical Mozart, though unusually elongated for what would seem to be an “insubstantial” work (at 26 minutes in length), and in six movements. Among its very delightful passages are the third movement Andantino, very much on a part with other singular slow movements of the composer’s (including the famous Andante of the 21st Piano Concerto), and the fifth movement, marked Rondeau/Allegro Assai, which remains one of the hidden-gem type movements in the composer’s canon.
Cologne Chamber Orchestra/HELMUT MULLER-BRUHL (Naxos)
Included:
DIVERTIMENTO NO. 17 IN D MAJOR, K. 334
Mozart: DIVERTIMENTO NO. 11 IN D MAJOR, K. 251
Though he didn’t live to be a particularly old man, dying before he could even turn 36, Mozart was nevertheless able to compose in many forms. Symphonies, instrumental concertos, sacred music, serenades, and operas were genres where he excelled. But there was also another form in which he seemed to have held sway practically above all who came before (even his great friend and contemporary Franz Joseph Haydn), and who have come since: the form of the Divertimento. Often he would compose for various groupings of instruments for special occasions, primarily when he was still a wunderkind in Salzburg in the 1770s. This is the case with the Divertimento No. 11, which he composed early in 1776, at the age of 20. Mozart’s own autograph on this work, which is scored for a chamber-sized orchestra of a single oboe, two French horns, and strings, is dated from July 1776, and was reportedly composed to celebrate the name-day of his sister Nannerl on the 26th of that month (hence the work sometimes being called the “Nannerl Septet”). The 11th Divertimento is very typical Mozart, though unusually elongated for what would seem to be an “insubstantial” work (at 26 minutes in length), and in six movements. Among its very delightful passages are the third movement Andantino, very much on a part with other singular slow movements of the composer’s (including the famous Andante of the 21st Piano Concerto), and the fifth movement, marked Rondeau/Allegro Assai, which remains one of the hidden-gem type movements in the composer’s canon.
Cologne Chamber Orchestra/HELMUT MULLER-BRUHL (Naxos)
Included:
DIVERTIMENTO NO. 17 IN D MAJOR, K. 334
