Mozart: Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Atmospheric serenades and musical humour: Eine kleine Nachtmusik is Mozart’s best-known serenade: the elaborate style of the music places it well above the light entertainment that the typical serenades of the time represent. No less original is the composer’s early Serenata notturna, where a string orchestra reinforced with timpani is juxtaposed with a string quartet. It’s as if Mozart wanted to parody the Baroque concerto grosso form. Ein musikalischer Spaß finds him making fun of the second-rate composers of his day: with endless repetition, unmotivated changes of theme and obvious composition mistakes, he caricatures to most amusing effect his less gifted contemporaries’ lack of talent and imagination.