New Millennium Strings

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Divertimento #11 in D Major, K.251

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was living in Salzburg when he discovered that he was in need of income. During the 1770s and the early 1780s he wrote commercial music, which served as background music for parties or entertainment for social functions. The events were usually attended by his friends and patrons. This is not to say that the compositions lacked depth. One such piece that was written for a social occasion was the Divertimento #11 in D Major, K.251. It was composed for Mozart's sister Nannerl to be a present for her 25th birthday celebration on July 30, 1776. Mozart wrote it hastily as if to present his sister with a last minute gift.

The Divertimento No. 11 was scored for one oboe, two horns, and string quartet. Mozart may have associated the use of the oboe with French style, and through his gift of music wanted to reminisce with Nannerl about the time they had spent together in Paris (1764 and 1766). Throughout the entire piece, the oboe vies for attention and overshadows the first violin part. The dominant oboe role is especially made apparent by the insertion of several short oboe cadenzas. The last movement of the Divertimento No. 11 is marked with the words: "Marcia alla francese." This movement is characterized by its jagged rhythmic flair. Perhaps Mozart may have developed thematic material here from fragments of French chansons.

Symphony #38 in D Major, K.504 (Prague)

In 1781, Mozart decided to resign from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and move to Vienna where his musical prospects seemed brighter. While in Vienna, he composed the Haffner Symphony, K.385, the Prague Symphony, K.504, and the Linz Symphony, K.425. The Symphony No. 38 (Prague) was first performed in 1786 in Prague at the National Theatre. The work was enthusiastically received there and Mozart began to see a musical and financial future for himself in Prague.

Mozart's Symphony No. 38 has only three movements, but it is a complex musical design. The slow first movement introduction has nearly a dozen motifs in it and the construction of the introduction nearly taxes the limitations of the classical style. Mozart's depth of contrapuntal and chromatic detail is rarely attempted in the same way by Haydn in his symphonies; only later is it developed in Beethoven's Symphony No. 7. Following the introduction of Symphony No. 38, the rhythmic instability is overwhelming until the first violins break away from their syncopated rhythm and emerge with a melody. The key of D Major lends itself to full sonority and brilliance for both the brass and the strings. In the second movement exposition, the strings play a simple eighth note unison theme. Later the same theme is developed and becomes a chromatic dialog between the violins and basses. The third movement Presto reveals another use of syncopation in the first theme (initially heard in the first violins). Although a recurring rhythmic device is used and not a melodic figure, its reappearance in the third movement leaves the listener with a cyclical sense about the symphony. A small triplet passage heard twice in the first violins seems to also tax the rules of classical style. Mozart's spontaneous triplet passage foreshadows a compositional technique used by Beethoven, who often used this technique to obscure tonality. Mozart uses the triplet figure to drift from the established harmonic structure, which leaves the listeners wondering what they will hear next.

-- program notes by Laurien Jones

August, 2001