Serenade K388
From Wind Repertory Project
This work is also referred to as the K384a and/or Serenade No. 12 in C minor.
Contents |
General Info
Year: 1782 (approximately)
Duration: c. 51:00
Difficulty: VI (see Ratings for explanation)
Publisher: Various
Cost: Unknown
Instrumentation
(Needed, please join the WRP by contacting the webmaster if you can help)
Errata
None discovered thus far.
Program Notes
The Serenade, K.388, is one of Mozart's most puzzling and mysterious works. It is orchestrated for an ensemble that is traditionally employed for light entertainment, yet it is defiantly dark in its character. Musicologists are not even truly certain when it was composed, although watermark research and other evidence have placed the composition at circa 1782. It has been assigned the Koechel number 384a in order to approximate composition date. Another puzzle is its form: In Mozart's day, a serenade would have consisted of a series of loosely-connected movements in dance meters, typically five or more. The c-minor serenade, however, has only four movements, making the work basically a symphony for wind octet. Mozart obviously thought highly of the work: in 1788 he transcribed it for string quintet (K.406). The K.388 is unforgiving in its seriousness, and therefore not suitable for background music at a dinner or a dance; it is not likely to have been played often in Mozart's day. In an ironic twist, despite its somber demeanor throughout, the Serenade ends in a triumphant C Major.
Program Note by Nikk Pilato
Commercial Discography
- Audio CD: Oslo Philharmonic Soloists
- Audio CD: English Concert Winds
State Ratings
None discovered thus far.
Recent Performances
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Additional Works for Winds by this Composer
- Serenade K361 "Gran Partita" also known as Serenade No. 10
- Serenade K375 also known as Serenade No. 11 in E-flat Major
Additional Resources
- Kuster, Konrad. (1996). Mozart: A Music Biography. Oxford: Clarenden Press.
Categories: Compositions | Grade VI | Multi-Movement | Chamber | Serenades | Octets
