| Eine kleine Nachtmusik | |
|---|---|
| Serenade No. 13 | |
| byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart | |
 Holograph manuscript, 1787 | |
| Key | G major |
| Catalogue | K. 525 |
| Composed | 1787 |
| Published | 1827,Offenbach am Main |
| Scoring | |
Eine kleine Nachtmusik[a] (Serenade No. 13 for strings inG major),K. 525, is a 1787 composition for achamber ensemble byWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). The German title means "a little night music"[b] and is one of the most famous classical music pieces.
The reasoning behind this piece is unknown. The extant piece contains four movements: Allegro, Romance, Menuetto, and Finale. However, one of the movements is now believed to be lost.
The serenade was completed in Vienna on 10 August 1787,[3] around the time when Mozart was working on the second act of his operaDon Giovanni,[4]. It is not known why he composed it, nor is it known whether it was performed in his lifetime.[5]Wolfgang Hildesheimer, noting that most of Mozart's serenades were written on commission, suggests that this was a commission whose origin and first performance were not recorded.[6]
The traditionally used name of the work comes from the entry Mozart made for it in his personal catalog, which beginsEine kleine Nacht-Musick.[c]Zaslaw and Cowdery point out that Mozart was probably not giving the piece a special title but only entering in his records that he had completed a little serenade.[7]
The work was not published until about 1827, long after Mozart's death, byJohann André inOffenbach am Main.[3] Mozart's widowConstanze sold it to the publisher as part of a large bundle of her husband's compositions.
Theserenade is written for an ensemble of twoviolins,viola,cello, anddouble bass, but it is often performed bystring orchestras.[3]
The work has fourmovements:
This first movement is insonata-allegro form.[8] It opens with an ascendingMannheim rockettheme. The second theme is more graceful and in D major, thedominant key of G major. Theexposition closes in D major and is repeated. Thedevelopment section begins on D major and touches onD minor and C major before the work returns to G major for therecapitulation.
The second movement, with the tempo markedAndante, is aRomance in the subdominant key ofC major, and was originally the third movement out of five.[9] It is inrondo form, taking the shape A–B–A–C–A plus a finalcoda. The keys of the sections are C major for A and B, C minor for C. The middle appearance of A is truncated, consisting of only the first half of the theme.Daniel Heartz describes the movement as evokinggavotte rhythm: each of its sections begins in the middle of the measure, with a double upbeat.[10]
The third movement, markedAllegretto, is aminuet[8] andtrio, both in3
4 time. The minuet is in the home key of G major, the contrasting trio in the dominant key of D major. As is normal in this form, the minuet is played againda capo following the trio.
The fourth and last movement is in livelytempo, markedAllegro; the key is again G major, and the movement is written insonata form. Mozart specifies repeats not just for the exposition section but also for the following development and recapitulation section. The recapitulation's first theme is unusual because only its last two bars return, in theparallel minor. A coda ends the piece.
In the catalogue entry mentionedabove, Mozart listed the work as having five movements ("Allegro – Minuet and Trio – Romance – Minuet and Trio – Finale.").[7] The second movement in his listing — a minuet and trio — was long thought lost, and no one knows if Mozart or someone else removed it. In his 1984 recording,Christopher Hogwood used a minuet ofThomas Attwood (found in his sketchbooks used while he took lessons from Mozart), and an additional newly composed trio to substitute the missing movement. MusicologistAlfred Einstein suggested, however, that a minuet in thePiano Sonata in B♭ major, K. 498a, is the missing movement.[11] K. 498a, which is credited to the composerAugust Eberhard Müller, incorporates significant amounts of Mozart's work in the form of reworkings of material from the piano concertosK. 450,K. 456, andK. 595, leading Einstein to suggest that the minuet in Müller's sonata might be an arrangement of the missing movement fromEine kleine Nachtmusik, however, the evidence for this is limited.[12]
In 1971, this movement was incorporated into a recording of the work prepared by the musicologist and performerThurston Dart.[13] In 1989, the minuet and trio of K. 498a was again recorded as part of an arrangement ofEine Kleine Nachtmusik made byJonathan Del Mar forNimbus Records.[14]
Today, the serenade is widely performed and recorded. Hildesheimer suggests that it is the most popular of all Mozart's works,[6] writing: "even if we hear it on every street corner, its high quality is undisputed, an occasional piece from a light but happy pen."[6] This piece has been featured in studies about the impact of music on fish[15] and humans.[16]Britannica has referred to it as "among the most frequently performed andiconic of all classical compositions."[8]
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![\layout { \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t }
\relative c'' {
\key c \major
\time 2/2
\set Staff.midiInstrument = "string ensemble 1"
\tempo 4 = 72
\partial 2 e8\p r8 e8 r8 |
e4. (g8) f8 (d8 f8 a8) |
g8. [(e16)] g8 r8 c8-. c4 (b8) |
a8-. a4 (g8) g8 (f16) r16 f8 (e16) r16 | g8. (e16) d8
}](/image.pl?url=https%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2f%2fupload.wikimedia.org%2fscore%2fn%2ft%2fntn3oevptygp1357h7n2vb8xq3eumbx%2fntn3oevp.png&f=jpg&w=240)
