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NOTES ON THE PROGRAM By James M. Keller, Program Annotator The Leni and Peter May Chair

Divertimento in D major, K.125a/136 Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K.417 Serenade No. 10 in B-flat major, Gran Partita, K.361/370a

Wolfgang Mozart

ust what is this piece supposed to be, any - Then, too, this work has long been claimed Jway, this Divertimento in D major ? It’s one as a piece of chamber music, and among the of three roughly similar works that, in the com - available recordings music lovers will find poser’s manuscript, are headed with the words readings by such revered ensembles as the “di Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart Salisburgo 1772.” That leaves no doubt that Mozart wrote all three IN SHORT in his hometown of Salzburg (Italianized as “Salisburgo”), and historical evidence suggests Born: January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria that they must date from the early months of that year — when he was 15 going on 16, and a Died : December 5, 1791, in Vienna decade along in his composing career. Each of the three pieces is also headed with the inscrip - Works composed and premiered: Diverti - tion Divertimento I (or II or III), but that is writ - mento, composed early in 1772, in Salzburg; ten in a hand other than Mozart’s. It was in no premiere unknown. Horn Concerto No. 2 com - way unreasonable to call such pieces diverti - pleted in Vienna on May 27, 1783; premiere un - mentos; the term had no very specific meaning known. Serenade composed in Vienna, probably in the Classical period apart from describing in late 1783 or early 1784; some movements compositions of a diverting nature. That’s all were apparently premiered March 23, 1784, at well and good but hardly precise, especially in the National Hoftheater in Vienna. the context of a prolific composer who produced premieres and most diverting music at the drop of a tricorn hat. recent performances: Divertimento premiered The two most commonly employed modern February 11, 1971, Seiji Ozawa, conductor; most editions of these works present them under the recently performed April 17, 1986, Christopher competing names “Three Divertimentos” and Hogwood, conductor. Horn Concerto No. 2, “Three Salzburg Symphonies without Winds.” premiered January 27, 1973, , Either way seems acceptable. Each of these conductor, John Cerminaro, soloist; most recently works is structured identically to coeval pieces played, December 12, 2008, Lorin Maazel, con - Mozart did call symphonies, and if musicolo - ductor, Philip Myers, soloist. Serenade premiered gists steeped in the vagaries of Classical in - March 8, 1958, , conductor; strumental music were shown this score with most recently performed December 20, 1988, no title attached, they would have no reason to , conductor assume that it was anything other than a sym - phony. Still, Mozart did not actually label this Estimated durations: Divertimento, ca. 13 piece as such, an omission that may or may not minutes; Horn Concerto No. 2, ca. 13 minutes; be significant. Serenade, ca. 45 minutes

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Amadeus, Kocian, and Talich quartets. Cer - and second violin, , and cello sections but tainly the D-major work played here sounds no double basses), or treat it as a symphony in like a proper when played by a all its fullness, with cellos and double basses proper string quartet. The sparkling figuration doubling each other at the octave on that bot - of 16th notes that fills the first violin part (and tom line. For a piece that on the surface seems sometimes the second violin part as well) in the entirely guileless, this divertimento, or sym - first movement seems to make more reasonable phony, or whatever it is, raises some pretty demands when aimed at a virtuoso soloist than basic issues, and a conductor has some deci - an entire orchestral section — or, better put, it sions to make about how to present it. takes a very well-honed section of virtuoso vio - The character of the piece will certainly vary linists to make that movement flow fluently. depending on the performing forces chosen, but If this piece was intended to be a string quar - its appeal remains, no matter what: a brilliant tet, was it even for a standard string quartet as opening Allegro , a gentle Andante with an Ital - we know it, comprising two violins, viola, and ianate musical accent, and a sonata-form finale cello? The score doesn’t actually mention a in which the contrapuntal pretensions of the de - cello; the lowest line is simply labeled basso , velopment section are likely to make listeners which could refer to the fact that it functions as smile broadly as they cheer the composer along the bass line or perhaps that it was to be played the path toward his musical maturity. by a double bass. The combination of two vio - lins, viola, and double bass was a common en - When Ludwig von Köchel put the finishing semble in Mozart’s Austria, sometimes known, touches on his Chronological and Thematic Cat - in fact, as a “divertimento quartet.” These alogue of the Complete Works of Wolfgang chamber music assemblages may have a bear - Amadé Mozart in 1862, he could do so with the ing on how one chooses to treat the piece even contentment of someone who had made the when it is presented in an orchestral guise; a best of a difficult job. His catalogue has gone conductor could dispense with cellos entirely through six editions since then and is poised to and simply use multiple players of the “diverti - appear in a seventh one of these years. Each of mento quartet” configuration, or consider it a these has updated the chronology of Mozart’s scaled-up standard string quartet (with first compositions (and, in some cases, rendered

A Career Progresses

Alhough Mozart was only 15 or 16 when he wrote his Divertimento K.125a/136, he had already been composing for a full decade, and his expertise clearly exceeded the level of a journeyman. His great masterpieces still lay ahead, but in 1772 Mozart was making impor - tant strides and he had already gained considerable recognition. In 1770, Pope Clement XIV awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur, effectively an honorary knighthood; in 1771, during a trip to Italy, he had been honored by Milan’s musical elite for his exceptional work; and by the end of 1772 his opera would mark an impor - tant breakthrough in his development as an opera composer. Although much of Mozart’s work from this period has fallen into the shadows, this divertimento is one of the very earliest that continues to hold sway in the repertoire.

Mozart, wearing the Order of the Golden Spur, in a portrait from 1777

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decisions pro or con concerning their authen - sometime around 1786–88 plus a fragment of a ticity) to reflect the ongoing parade of musico - finale from 1791, the composer’s final year. logical research. Much more is now known All of Mozart’s major compositions for about the historical and bibliographical details horn — the concertos and the of Mozart’s music than in 1862; and, accord - (K.407/386c) — were written for his friend ingly, many of the hallowed “Köchel numbers” or, as the composer sometimes attached to Mozart’s works can no longer be misspelled it in his letters, “Leitgeb.” Leutgeb taken to reflect the state of the art with regards (1732–1811) had known the for to chronology. many years — since 1762 or 1763, when he had Mozart’s are particularly begun playing with the Court Orchestra in problematic in this regard. He wrote four of Salzburg and was a colleague of Leopold them, plus (in March 1781) a Rondo in E-flat Mozart and his precocious son. Like young major that was apparently never attached to a Wolfgang, he enjoyed a busy career touring as larger concerto. The earliest, his Horn Con - a popular soloist in the musical capitals of Eu - certo in E-flat major, dates from May 1783, rope, but in 1777 he settled in his native Vi - and it is that work heard in this concert. enna to assume the day-to-day responsibilities Köchel, thinking it was the second one Mozart of running the cheese shop his wife had in - wrote, called it the Horn Concerto No. 2 and as - herited from her father. Leutgeb, it seems, signed it spot “K.417” in his catalogue. The next flourished less as a cheesemonger than he had one, also in E-flat major, was composed in June as a concert soloist, and at one point Mozart 1786: Köchel thought it was Mozart’s Fourth, interceded to beg patience from his own tight - and assigned it the K. number 495. The “Third” fisted father, who had uncharacteristically ex - Horn Concerto (again in E-flat major, K.447) tended a loan to their old friend. “I beg you may have been written as early as 1783 or as to be patient a little while longer with poor late as 1787–88. And then there is the so-called Leutgeb,” wrote Wolfgang in May 1782, from Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major (K.412), which Vienna, where he was also living. “If you consists of two completed movements from knew his circumstances and saw how he has

The Waldhorn

Mozart composed all of his horn music — including the Horn Concerto No. 2 — for what was later called the Waldhorn or natural horn, which refers to the valveless horns of the 18th and early-19th centuries. The Wald - horn consisted of a metal tube (coiled for convenience) into which re - placeable sections, called crooks, could be inserted to effectively increase or decrease the length of the tube overall. Changing crooks was not an instantaneous process, so in the course of a movement a player was the - oretically limited to playing only the notes making up the overtone series above whatever fundamental pitch was sounded when a given crook was installed. But intricate movements of the player’s hand within the horn’s bell (called “stopping”) could alter those harmonics and achieve more or less complete scales in various registers, opening the door to a solo repertoire that many other wind instruments already enjoyed. Even with the introduction and acceptance of valves that could alter the length of the instrument’s tubes (and, thereby, its chromatic possibil - ities) with the flick of a finger, some composers continued to champion the Waldhorn; as late as 1865 Brahms specified that it should be used in his Horn Trio.

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to struggle to make ends meet, you would, I am can imagine how we made fun of him — it’s sure, feel sorry for him.” true, I always need to make a fool of someone. Mozart’s best friends knew they would have to endure practical jokes and other crudities The Serenade in B-flat major (K.361/370a) is from time to time. At the top of the manuscript often referred to as the Gran partita , a name for the K.417 Horn Concerto, for example, the that appears as its title on Mozart’s manu - composer inscribed, “Wolfgang Amadé Mozart script. The term “partita” was used more or has taken pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and fool, at less interchangeably with “serenade” in Vienna, March 27, 1783.” (How Köchel missed Mozart’s day, and a gran partita would be a this inscription when he misdated the score is large-scale, or “great,” example of one. That hard to figure out.) Mozart related a specific name, however, was added sometime after the prank in a letter he wrote to his wife on June 25, music was written down, and it was inscribed 1791, of which Leutgeb was almost surely the in handwriting that is not Mozart’s — and, to unnamed victim: a fallacious message was sent put a fine point on things, it uses the less stan - to him announcing the imminent arrival of a dard orthography gran partitta . Still, the nick - distinguished friend from Rome. Thus fore - name is useful, convenient, and appropriate. It warned, Mozart continued, is certainly more meaningful than calling the piece Mozart’s Serenade No. 10, as it sometimes the poor man put on his best Sunday clothes is; another name often encountered, “Serenade and dressed his hair most splendidly — you for 13 Winds,” is downright inaccu rate.

In the Rival’s Words

Many Mozart aficionados get huffy at the mention of Peter Shaffer’s 1979 play Amadeus and the movie adap - tation of it that was released in 1984. It is nonetheless a marvelous play, one that never pretended to be any - thing but a work of fiction, even if it incorporated some strands of fact. The crux of its drama lies in the presumed rivalry between Mozart and the Court Kapellmeister . In fact, Mozart could be suspicious of Salieri, and several of his letters underscore that he felt Salieri sometimes tried to undermine his endeavors. One cannot know whether his suspicions were well founded or not, but by Mozart’s last year things had gotten onto a more collegial track. In one of the play’s most poignant scenes, Salieri laments the insignificance of his own music when compared to Mozart’s, an assessment he finds in - escapable when he ponders the Adagio of the Gran partita :

Extraordinary! On the page it looked nothing! The beginning simple, almost comic. Just a pulse. Bassoons, basset horns — like a rusty squeezebox. Then suddenly — high above it — an oboe, a single note, hanging there unwavering, till a clarinet took over and sweetened it into a phrase of such delight! This was no composition by a performing monkey! This was a music I’d never heard. Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable long - ing, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing a voice of God.

F. Murray Abraham as Antonio Salieri in the 1984 film Amadeus

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Mozart’s score is perfectly clear about the in - and that the final “0” may have been adapted struments required: pairs of oboes, clarinets, from a “1.” The third edition of the Köchel cata - bassett horns (which are tenor clarinets), and logue, which appeared in 1937, therefore reas - bassoons, four horns, and for the 13th instru - signed the date of composition from 1780 to 1781, ment, “Contra Basso,” which means today — and and changed the Köchel number from K.361 to meant then — a double bass. K.370a, hoping to place it in the proper order of A certain logic has compelled many music Mozart’s works as then understood. The date of lovers to want to keep the instrumentation in 1781 seemed reinforced when later research the wind family, and to imagine that Mozart re - found that the paper on which the manuscript ally meant for that lowest instrument to be a is written corresponded to the paper used for contrabassoon rather than a double bass. In - some other Mozart pieces of 1781; but that argu - deed, when this piece was first published, ment grew shaky when the dating of the corre - posthumously in 1803, by the Viennese firm sponding pieces was called into serious Bureau d’Arts et d’Industrie, the title page read question. In any case, certain stylistic traits of “Grande Serenade pour deux Hautbois, deux the music seem to ally this piece instead with Clarinettes, deux Cors de Bassette, quatre Cors, what Mozart was writing in 1783 and 1784. That deux Bassons et grand Basson ou Basse” — happens to align nicely with an item that ap - that last bit allowing a choice between contra - peared in the Wiener blättchen newspaper on bassoon or double bass. March 23, 1784, announcing an upcoming con - And yet, Mozart’s musical manuscript pro - cert presented by Mozart’s clarinetist friend vides no support for the idea of assigning a Anton Stadler, “at which will be given, among contrabassoon to the lowest line. Indeed, the other well-chosen pieces, a great wind piece of a part sometimes indicates that some passages very special kind composed by Herr Mozart.” are to be played pizzicato for a certain span, For all its historical complication, the Gran after which the player returns to bowing ( arco), partita is unimpeachable as a musical achieve - markings that are perfectly normal in a dou - ment. It includes elaborate movements of sym - ble-bass part but nonsensical for contrabas - phonic proportions, irresistible dance sections, soon. This performance employs double bass, one of Mozart’s greatest Adagios , and a delec - as indicated in Mozart’s manuscript. table set of six variations before reaching a Less certain is the question of when Mozart rondo finale of fleet-fingered ebullience. wrote the piece. In his Chronological and The - matic Catalogue of the Complete Works of Wolf - Instrumentation: this Divertimento calls for gang Amadé Mozart, von Köchel assigned the string orchestra only. Horn Concerto No. 2 em - date 1780, which (like the words “gran partita”) ploys two oboes, two horns, and strings, in ad - is inscribed on the manuscript by a hand that dition to the solo horn. Serenade calls for two was not Mozart’s. Careful inspection reveals that oboes, two clarinets, two basset horns, two the “8” is traced over what was originally a “7,” bassoons, four horns, and double bass.

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