CDXC. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus: Cassation #3 in D Major (Serenade #1), K. 100

CDXC. MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)

Cassation #3 in D Major (Serenade #1), K. 100 (1769)
1. Allegro (4:25)
2. Andante (6:02)
3. Menuetto (2:29)
4. Allegro (3:05)
5. Menuetto (2:33)
6. Andante (3:44)
7. Menuetto (2:04)
8. Allegro (3:02)
Academy of St Martin in the Fields
Neville Marriner, cond.

Mozart aged 14, in January 1770
attributed to Giambettino Cignaroli

See Post CLXI for info on the Cassation, etc.

This is outdoors music, presumably entertaining the nobles while they feasted. The 13-year-old prodigy was quite proficient at whipping out these little diversions -- and as is usually the case, the instrumentation is for musicians who can stand up while they play (thus no cello; the bass might have been a contrabass player with a strong strap, but more likely a bassoonist) ...

1. Allegro

A rising theme in D Major arpeggios begins the festivities; a second theme has the second violin playing rising scales -- staccato -- with a beautiful but simple theme from the first ...

The material is developed; the next section opens with a A-sharp diminished seventh chord (vii°) resolving to the submediant (B Minor), and then another vii° in G-Sharp, resolving to the dominant, A Major, before finally returning to the tonic.

2. Andante

3. Menuetto

Delightful oboe/horn part in the Trio:

4. Allegro

A somewhat operatic movement with a playful theme characterized by wide intervallic leaps, followed by a horn and oboe call-and-response ...

5. Menuetto

The main feature is a descending D Major arpeggio; the Trio is a bit more sublime:

6. Andante

The flutes add a nice touch to the upper registers; this lick in the violins is an example of Mozart's supreme gift for dropping in a touch of unsurpassed beauty into a piece of outdoor entertainment!


 

7. Menuetto

D Major scales shooting up and down! The Trio is in the minor.

8. Allegro

A stately theme in this 3/4 Allegro is interspersed with passages in the minor, creating a serious feeling -- but the joyous music concludes in the major.