Serenade K361 "Gran Partita"
From Wind Repertory Project
This work is also referred to as the "Gran Partita," "K370a," "Serenade No. 10," and/or "Serenade for 13 Winds."
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General Info
Year: 1781-4 (there exists no consensus on a composition date)
Duration: c. 51:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Various
Cost: Unknown
Instrumentation
Full Score
Oboe I-II
Bassoon I-II
Bb Soprano Clarinet I-II
Basset Horn I-II
Horn in F I-II-III-IV
String Bass (can be played by Contrabassoon)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The serenade as a genre was a quite frivolous and light-hearted affair in Mozart’s time. Serenades were “dinner music,” to be performed at parties and other social events. Also known as divertimenti, nocturnes, or cassations, these works had their origin in the aristocratic practice of hiring a band to “woo” potential lovers and damsels. Mostly, serenades were written for immediate consumption. By 1780 these types of works were beginning to appear in serious concerts, but because of their very nature many serenades from the Classical period have been lost forever, swallowed by the filter of time. Mozart’s serenades, however, have survived...a testament to their construction and quality.
It is important to also note that Mozart did not, in fact, nickname his Serenade. The moniker “Gran Partita” was added by an unknown hand after his death. It is not clear if this title is one that Mozart endorsed or was even aware of. The first mention of the work comes from a Viennese newspaper on 23 March 1784 that read “Today Herr Stadler senior, at present in the service of his Majesty the Emperor, will give a musical academy for his benefit in the Imperial Royal National Court Theatre, at which, among other well chosen pieces, a large wind work of a very special kind composed by Herr Mozart will be performed.”
Much controversy still exists over the year in which the Gran Partita was written and who it was written for. While a great many of Mozart’s scores show haste, the autograph score for the Serenade No. 10 shows great care, and it is known to be composed on the same type of paper that Mozart was using in 1780-81. What is known is that Mozart composed this work no later than 23 March 1784 (the date of the above mentioned performance). On that date, four movements of the Serenade were performed by a group of musicians from the “Harmonien” of several different Austrian households who were free of their musical duties due to Lent, a traditional time for servants’ vacation. This group included the clarinetist Anton Stadler. As far as a concrete date of composition, that may never be known. The original Köchel date had the Serenade placed at 1780; however, there is question about how Köchel came to this date because the autograph score was unavailable to him, being privately owned at the time.
Alfred Einstein, editor of the first thorough revision of the Köchel catalogue, upon finding the autograph for sale at the shop of an antiquarian in Munich noted that the date on the autograph did not read 1780. He believed that the final digit was a “1” that had been overwritten to make it look like a “0.” In addition, there existed a story (now known to be false) about Mozart writing the Serenade as a present to his wife Constanze on their wedding day, which was in 1782. There exist several other theories on the date of this work and where it fits into Mozart’s catalogue, but the more compelling one is the theory laid out by Daniel Leeson, who believes that the Serenade was written at the same time as the K.452 and the K.454, both of which also use basset horns and share some similar melodic material.
Program Note by Nikk Pilato
Commercial Discography
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Recent Performances
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Additional Works for Winds by this Composer
- Serenade K375 also known as Serenade No. 11 in E-flat Major
- Serenade K388 also known as Serenade No. 12 in C minor
Additional Resources
- Kuster, Konrad. (1996). Mozart: A Music Biography. Oxford: Clarenden Press.
- Leeson, Daniel. (1997). A Revisit: Mozart’s serenade for thirteen instruments, K.361(370a), the “Gran Partita.” Mozart-Jahrbuch, Spring 1997.
