Mozart: "A little night music", 1787

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major), K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791).

The German title means "a little night music" and is one of Mozart's most famous works.

The serenade is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, cello, and double bass, but it is often performed by string orchestras.

Composition, publication, and reception

The Serenade was completed in Vienna on 10 August 1787, around the time when Mozart was working on the second act of his opera Don Giovanni.

It is not known why he composed it.

Wolfgang Hildesheimer, noting that most of Mozart's serenades were written on commission, suggests that this was a commission whose origin and first performance were not recorded.

Josef Büche | Mozart composing

The traditionally used name of the work comes from the entry Mozart made for it in his personal catalog, which begins Eine kleine Nacht-Musick.

Zaslaw and Cowdery point out that Mozart was probably not giving the piece a special title but only entering in his records that he had completed a little Serenade.

The work was not published until about 1827, long after Mozart's death, by Johann André in Offenbach am Main.

Mozart's widow Constanze sold it to the publisher as part of a large bundle of her husband's compositions.

Today, the serenade is widely performed and recorded, and Hildesheimer suggests that it is the most popular of all Mozart's works.

Hildesheimer writes, "even if we hear it on every street corner, its high quality is undisputed, an occasional piece from a light but happy pen".

Louis-Ernest Barrias | Mozart, child, with a violin | Musée d'Orsay

Movements

The work has four movements:

• Allegro (G major);

• Romance: Andante (C major);

• Menuetto: Allegretto (G major, with trio in D major);

• Finale: Rondo Allegro (G major).

Johann Nepomuk della Croce | Mozart Family portrait: Maria Anna ("Nannerl"), Wolfgang, Anna Maria (medallion) and Leopold Mozart