Wolfgang Mozart Serenata Notturna, K

PROGRAM NOTES by Phillip Huscher

Wolfgang Mozart

Born January 27, 1756, Salzburg, Austria. Died December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria.

Serenata notturna, K. 239

Moza rt's autograph of this serenade is dated January 1776. The work was performed some time that winter or spring in Salzburg. It is scored for strings and timpani, with a solo quartet consisting of two violins, viola, and double bass. Performance time is appr oximately fourteen minutes.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra's first subscription concert performances of Mozart's Serenata notturna were given at Orchestra Hall on February 17 and 18, 1944, with Hans Lange conducting. Our most recent subscription concert performances were given on May 15, 16, and 17, 1986 with Kazuyoshi Akiyama conducting. The Orchestra has performed this serenade at t he Ravinia Festival only once, on July 24, 1971, with István Kertész conducting .

Serenata notturna, the title Leopold Mozart wrote atop his son's sc ore, is redundant, for a serenade by definition is night music. According to Webster, a serenade is a complimentary performance given at night, outdoors, and directed to a woman. In Mozart's day, they were instrumental pieces as well as vocal ones, providi ng festive music for all kinds of outdoor social occasions. Mozart composed works he labeled serenade, divertimento, cassation, or notturno —although the title of his last serenade, Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A little night music) says it all.

W. H. Auden wro te of Mozart's serenades: “while bottles were uncorked, / Milord chewed noisily, Milady talked.” By the time of Auden's verse, these extraordinary pieces, the most extravagant background music ever composed, had found a more appropriate home in the concert hall. But they were written to be played as entertainment at prominent functions and high -society events, often held outside —not, in other words, for serious listening. Most of them, in fact, were performed just once and then forgotten.

We don't know wh at kind of event Mozart had in mind when he wrote this serenade in D major. Although its key is the one he favored for serenades and cassations, its scoring, for strings alone with timpani, and its division into just three movements (when a leisurely seque nce of up to eight was more common), set it apart from the rest. Even the dignified march with which it opens is more subtly detailed and symphonic in scope than the boilerplate marches that commonly begin Mozart's serenades. The middle movement is a D maj or minuet, standard in layout, including a contrasting midsection trio in G major, but distinguished throughout by Mozart's inability to write a commonplace phrase. The finale is pure fun —a high-spirited country dance, interrupted but undisturbed by one un expected memory of sadder days. Throughout the serenade, Mozart gains added richness and complexity by subdividing his strings into a large ensemble and a solo quartet that slips in and out of the spotlight, and, in the trio, has the floor to itself.

Phillip Huscher is the program annotator for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

These notes appear in galley files and may contain typographical or other errors. Programs subject to change without notice.