Mozart, Divertimento in D major, K 136

 
In December 1771, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was back in Salzburg after his second four-month trip to Italy in the company of his father Leopold. The reception and the music commissioned were a success, but the main effort, aimed at securing a place for Amadeus at a respectable court, had not born fruit.

The last attempt had been nearly embarrassing, although the Mozart family never knew the details. Maria Theresa of Austria, mother of the first queen to meet the guillotine, Marie Antoinette, and of Archduke Ferdinand, governor of Lombardy, even jealously instructed the latter not to hire that family of musicians who were "rolling around the world like beggars".

As usual, Wolfgang was not deterred from his excellent willingness to work, and in the first months of 1772, he had already composed the three divertimentos K. 136-138, also known as the "Salzburg Symphonies", since Mozart set them up in three movements, typical of the "Italian" symphonies: fast - slow - fast.

Divertimenti: "Ambient Music" in the 18th Century

Divertimenti usually consisted of more than three movements, generally five, in some cases adding up to nine, as a remnant of the fading suite, the musical form from which the divertimenti appear to have originated.

Very popular in the 18th century, there are divertimenti for ensembles of three, four or five stringed or wind instruments, or some combination of them. Light in character, its purpose was no other than entertainment, a piece of pleasant background music while talking about state affairs, or blabbering about some petty palace intrigue.

Divertimento in D major

The work we are listening to is the Divertimento in D major K. 136, for string quartet or orchestra (or, "Salzburg Symphony No. 1"). It is the most popular of the three already mentioned. An essential piece in the modern chamber repertoire, a Russian conductor used to place it at the beginning of his concerts because "it is like offering a glass of champagne when the guests arrive".

The notation K. 136, according to Ludwig von Köchel's catalog (1862), states that this composition is preceded by no less than 135 opus numbers. These include about twelve operas and masses, and some twenty symphonies. Wolfgang Amadeus, at the time, was sixteen years old.

Movements: Allegro - Andante (4:17) - Presto (10:07).

The rendition is by the American chamber ensemble New York Classical Players, made up of young talents who use to give free concerts in the New York metropolitan area.