Serenade in G, K. 525 “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” mvt 4

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

 

Wolgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. His father, Leopold Mozart, was a composer and violinist in the court of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Wolfgang was a child prodigy who began performing on piano at age 3 and composing at 5. After 1762, Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) spent much of their childhood touring and performing in various European courts. Their travels took them to Brussels, Paris, London, Munich, Florence, Rome, and all points in between. After spending most of the 1770s back in Salzburg, Mozart moved to Vienna in 1780, where he spent the rest of his life, and composed many of his most brilliant compositions. As a composer, Mozart had an innate sense of form and symmetry and an infallible craftsmanship. Aaron Copland writes, “Mozart in his music was probably the most reasonable of the world’s great composers.  It is the happy balance between flight and control, between sensibility and self-discipline, simplicity and sophistication of style that is his particular province... Mozart tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breath-taking rightness that has never since been duplicated.”

 

Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is quite possibly the most widely recognizable work in all of classical music. It was composed in 1787 while Mozart was also working on his opera Don Giovanni. There is no record of a commission or a first performance. Some musicologists believe Mozart composed the work for some of his friends to play at a party. The familiar opening movement is followed by a slow and lyrical Romance. A short Minuet for the third movement leads to a brisk and energetic finale.