TITLE: Serenade No. 10 in Bb major, K. 361 (1781)

• Newer Title: Grand Partita No. 10 in Bb, K. 370a

COMPOSER: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

There were seven children born to Leopold Mozart and Maria Anna Pertl, however, only two survived, among those Wolfgang Gottlieb. The day after his birth, he was christened Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. His father, Leopold was not only a gifted violinist, keyboard and organ player, he was also quite famous as a music pedagogue in Austria and Europe. Leopold, was very involved with his children's upbringing and success in music. He educated his children at home. Mozart was a child prodigy, composing and performing in public prior to his seventh birthday. He toured Europe with his father throughout his childhood. The family lived in Salzburg. Mozart decided, against his father's wishes, to leave the service of the archbishop of Salzburg and move to Vienna. At the age of twenty-six, Mozart composed the Serenade No.10 in Bb major.

MOVEMENTS: Seven

1. Largo; Molto allegro 9' 43"
2. Menuetto 9' 07"
3. Adagio 5' 38"
4. Menuetto (Allegretto) / Trio 5' 12"
5. Romance 7' 01"
6. Tema con variazione 9' 59"
7. Finale 3' 19"

PERFORMANCE TIME: 49' 59"

INSTRUMENTATION: 13 Instruments

• 2 Oboes, 2 Bb Clarinets, 2 Bassett Horns, 2 Bassoons, 4 Horns, 1 Contra Bass

EDITIONS: Available for Purchase or Rental

1. Bote and Bock Inc., Hardenbergstrasse 9a, D-1000 Berlin 12, Germany
2. Breitkopf and Hartel, Wiesbaden, West Germany
3. Musica Rara, Le Traversier, Chemin de La Buire 84170, Monteux, France
4. G. Schirmer, Inc., 866 Third Ave., New York, NY 10022

COMPOSITION SKETCH AND MUSICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The B-flat major wind serenade, "Gran Partita," (K. 361), is the largest of Mozart's wind serenades, both in terms of its expanded instrumentation and its length.  It was written shortly after Mozart's relocation to Vienna, following a period of frustration at the Salzburg court.  The "Gran Partita" was among Mozart's favorite compositions:  it served as his choice for his own wedding, performed at the conclusion of the nuptial banquet.  The name of this serenade, incidentally, is found in one of two extant autograph scores; the title is not in Mozart's handwriting.

Movement 1:  Largo-Allegro

The introductory largo is thematically unrelated to the sonata-form of the movement.  This introduction falls into two main divisions, a solo clarinet extension of a fanfare-style tutti declamation, and a long string of melodious syncopes culminating in a half cadence.  The tonic exposition of the Allegro molto is set forth in three phrases (soft-loud-soft), followed by a transitional ritornello which leads to the presentation of a second subject.  The second subject is a paraphrase of the first, which creates unity in the opening movement.  An extensive codetta closes the exposition. The development sets forth sequences built out of a permutation of the second subject, a stormy ritornello, a development of the first subject in stretto, and a quotation of the exposition's codetta.  The recap is complete, and following a fermata, the head of the principal subject, given in stretto, is used as a short coda.

Movement 2:  Menuetto

The menuet and its trios are characterized by extraordinarily subtle and sophisticated phrase structures.  The three sub-movements are small but complete manifestations of sonata form.

Movement 3:  Adagio in E flat major

Mozart utitlizes an ostinato accompaniment that is continuous throughout the movement. It lends a remarkable intensity to this aria da capo, so artfully prophetic of the composer's best operatic moments, similar to Contessa's aria from Nozze di Figaro.

Movement 4:  Menuetto and Trio

The second menuet and its trios are shorter and harmonically simpler than the ones existing in the second movement.  The use of B-flat minor for the first trio comes as a surprise; it forecasts the dark tonality of one of the variations in a later movement.

Movement 5:  Romance 

According to one commentator (Abert), the fifth and sixth movements of this serenade are later additions.  If this were the case, the original "Gran Partita" would then fall into the five-movement pattern which characterized both the orchestral serenades and the second large wind essay.  Einstein, however, disagrees, pointing out that both of the monographs are continuous, and in the same pen; the "Gran Partita," then, must represent an advance in formal thinking over the earlier patterns, with the standard model embedded in the new.  If the latter is indeed the case, then this movement is in some sense a focal point of the complete work, which makes its key centers - E-flat major and C minor. These are the keys used respectively, in the two later wind serenades.  The ABA key scheme is reflected in and reinforced by ABA schemes of tempo and thematic material. 

Movement 6:  Tema con Variazione  

While this form does not appear in Mozart's orchestral serenades, it is increasingly used in the later divertimenti and wind serenades.  The theme consists of five regular phrases.  The first two variations are exact.  The third variation adopts a double-variation format.   The fourth variation is set in B-flat minor, and the final variation is in the style of a minuet, concluding with a short coda.

Movement 7:  Finale  

This movement is probably the least intellectually demanding of the entire piece, a characteristic of rondos.  The form is ABACA, with three repeated strains in F major, B-flat major and G minor in the first episode, and four repeated strains in E-flat major, C minor, G minor and D minor in the second episode. While these are not sets of variations, they possess a unique quality of inner unity and thematic identity. 

SELECTED RECORDINGS:

RELATED WEBSITES:

Mozart Page - http://www.w-a-mozart.com/

Mozart Biography - http://www.sciortino.net/wambiog.html

Mozart Midi File Page - http://midiworld.com/cmc/mozart.html

Mozart's Music - http://mozart.composers.net/html/music.html