Mozart – Serenade No. 13 in G-Major, K. 525, “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”

by Max Derrickson

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

1. Allegro
2. Romance: Andante
3. Menuetto: Allegretto
4. Vivace

In Mozart’s time, serenades were usually meant for outdoor gatherings, mostly parties or functions for which the musical serenade provided the background ambiance.  Often enough these would be held in the evening by candlelight.  Though expectedly the music for these occasions would be light in nature, Mozart wrote several that go much deeper than simply background music.  But if one is looking for the brightness and charm of Mozart, this Serenade from 1787 is probably his best.
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Its clarity, too, is a wonder.  Mozart was able to express volumes of good tidings in what seems like just a few sentences.  Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, as composer Aaron Copland said, shows Mozart having “… tapped once again the source from which all music flows, expressing himself with a spontaneity and refinement and breathtaking rightness that has never since been duplicated.”