Serenade No. 13 (Mozart)

The Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K 525, more commonly known as "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" ("a small serenade" -- rendered more literally but less accurately as "a little night music" [See "Nachtmusik" and "Notturno" entries in Grove Music Online.] ), is one of the most popular compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart wrote it in 1787 in Vienna while working on "Don Giovanni". It is not known why or for whom he wrote this piece.

The work was written for a chamber ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello with optional double bass. It is often performed with more than one person to a part.

Movements

*I. Allegro
*II. Romanze: Andante
*III. Menuetto: Allegretto
*IV. Rondo: Allegro

Allegro

This first movement is in Sonata Allegro form, which aggressively ascends in a Mannheim rocket theme. It is one of the most recognized passages of music ever written, even among those without musical training. The second theme is more graceful and in D major, the dominant key of G major. The exposition closes in D major and is repeated. The development section begins on D major and touches on D minor and C major before the work returns to G major for the recapitulation -- a repetition of the exposition with both subjects in the same key, as is convention. During the recapitulation, it is in G major with the primary themes from the exposition playing. The movement ends in its tonic key, G major.

Romanza

The second movement is a "Romanza", in Andante and contrasting and slower than the first movement. It is in a "section rondo form" and is similar to the sonata rondo form (ABACA). The first theme (A) is graceful and lyrical. It is followed by a more rhythmical second theme (B). The first theme returns (A) and is followed by the third theme (C), which is darker than the first two and includes a touch of C minor. The first theme (A) returns to finish the movement. The key is in C major, which is the sub-dominant of G major.

Menuetto

The third movement is a minuet and trio (ABA). The movement is in the tonic key, which is in G major and is fairly quick with a tempo of Allegretto. It contains two themes, a minuet and a trio. The movement begins with the minuet (A), then the trio theme enters (B), and it ends with the minuet (A). It ends in the tonic key, which is in G major.

Rondo

The fourth and last movement is in sonata rondo form. This finale returns with the liveliness of the first movement. The movement alters between two main themes during the exposition. In the development, it modulates through various keys and ends in G minor. The two themes return in the recapitulation and finally ends in the coda, in which the first theme returns.

Possible extra movement

Mozart listed this work as having five movements in his own catalogue of his works. ("Allegro - Minuet and Trio. - Romance, Minuet and Trio and Finale.") Zaslaw, N., Cowdery, W., "The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", Norton (1991), ISBN 0-393-02886-0] The second movement in his listing, a minuet and trio, was long thought lost and no one knows if it was Mozart or someone else who removed it. Musicologist Alfred Einstein has suggested, however, that a minuet in Piano Sonata in B-flat, K.498a, is the missing movement. [cite book|last=Einstein|first=Alfred|authorlink=Alfred Einstein|title=Mozart: His Character, His Work|coauthors=Arthur Mendel, Nathan Broder (translators)|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=Ep4PXMszMv4C&pg=PA207&dq=alfred+mozart+nachtmusik+minuet&ei=H1EtR8jGA4T66gLuqeToCQ&sig=6-LNZOHsZGj8AFbDwS9MRP_YfDE
page=207|date=1965|publisher=Oxford University Press|oclc=31827291|location=New York] The sonata's minuet has been recorded in an arrangement for string quartet,Fact|date=February 2007 although music scholars are not certain that Einstein is correct.Or|date=September 2007

Eine Kleine Nichtmusik

Musicologist Peter Schickele, better known as P. D. Q. Bach, has composed a humorous parody version of Mozart's famous serenade with a slightly altered name, "Eine Kleine Nichtmusik". This composition features snips of dozens of famous tunes, mostly by classical composers, played as counterpoint throughout the piece, which is roughly the same length and playing time as the original. [ [http://www.mcgath.com/pdq.html#ekn The Key of P. D. Q. Bach] ]

References

External links

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* Performance in MP3 format at [http://www.logoslibrary.org/classical/mozart/index.html Logos Virtual Library]
* [http://www.liquidsandstudio.com/silas/einekleinenachtmusik.mp3 MP3 file of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - First Movement]
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* [http://icking-music-archive.org/scores/mozart/kv525/ Eine kleine Nachtmusik - Directory at the Werner Icking Music Archive]