Mandolin 1796: Sonatine WoO 43a; Adagio ma non troppo WoO 43b; Sonatine WoO 44a and Andante con Variazioni WoO 44b. The opera "Don Giovanni" by Mozart (1787) includes mandolin parts, including the accompaniment to the famous aria "Deh vieni alla finestra", and Verdi's opera Otello calls for guzla accompaniment in the aria "Dove guardi splendono raggi", but the part is commonly performed on mandolin. Gustav Mahler used the mandolin in his Symphony No. 7, Symphony No. 8 and Das Lied von der Erde. Parts for mandolin are included in works by Schoenberg (Variations op. 31), Stravinsky (Agon), Prokofiev (Romeo and Juliet)
Mandolin mimic a portion of the intervals on a standard guitar tuning to achieve familiar fretting patterns. The mandolin is the soprano member of the mandolin family, as the violin is the soprano member of the violin family. Like the violin, its scale length is typically about . Modern American mandolins modelled after Gibsons have a longer scale, about . The strings in each of its double-strung courses are tuned in unison, and the courses use the same tuning as the violin: G–D–A–E. The piccolo or sopranino mandolin is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the mandola