Divertimenti for Strings and Wind

Abstract

Scored for a very small group of players, this work was probably written to commemorate the graduation of a close friend of Mozart's, Sigmund Robinig, from his law studies at the University of Salzburg in 1780. It also seems that Sigmund was a fairly decent violinist—he is thus described in a surviving letter from Leopold Mozart—and the first violin part is somewhat ambitious and may have been crafted with him in mind. This was a particularly turbulent period in Mozart's life; his mother had died during his recent trip to Paris, and he had both found and lost his first love, the fickle soprano Aloysia Weber. He also battled more or less constantly with his father during this time and his child-like innocence had given way to a sort of randy adolescence filled with ribald humor and dissolute partying. Still in the employ of Archbishop Hieronymous but becoming increasingly dissatisfied there, Mozart nonetheless continued to compose fine works and this piece testifies to that fact. The work is also longer—at forty-five minutes—and contains somewhat more structure and sophistication than a more typical divertimento, which was usually written as background or dinner music. In six movements, the work is scored for two violins, a viola, bass, and the two horns. The first movement allegro is almost quartet-like, although both horns are subtly and expertly integrated and the bass provides a firmer footing than would otherside be present in so small an ensemble. The second movment, an extended theme and variations, is a stately andante. In lesser hands, the form is frequently an exercise in tedium; in Mozart's, it becomes a stately procession of finely turned-out divergences on a poignant subject. Particularly effective is a horn duet at about the midway point. There follows a couple of variants later an aggressive descant in the first violin to a gentle, thumping undercurrent. A surprisingly timid minuet follows so seamlessly it seems to be another variation, and the six-minute adagio is almost a gentle song without words but at several points becomes too harmonically challenging for voice. A more extended minuet follows and it is rather more upbeat and buoyant than the earlier one, although it seems to pause, as if briefly in contemplation, part way through. The nine and one half minute rondo allegro which concludes the work is nearly symphonic in scope and the listener may forget that the piece is actually of chamber proportions, scored for only six players. Once again, the first violin is featured in several extended passages with the horns and bass used most effectively to sustain the full bodied sound. The piece is among the best of Mozart's works in the divertimento genre and could serve as a textbook in how to make such slight resources take on such grand proportions.