During the course of the summer of 1776 Mozart composed no less than three large scale occasional works. The first, the Divertimento in F, K247, was written to celebrate the name-day of the Countess Antonia Lodron on 13 June, the member of a family well-known in Salzburg for its patronage of music. Some five weeks later came the Serenade in D, K250 (248b), a fully-scored ceremonial work commissioned by Siegmund Haffner, Jr., the son of a well-known Salzburg merchant, to celebrate the marriage of one of his sisters, which took place on July 22. The final work of this exceptional trilogy appears to belong closer to home, since it is thought that K251 was composed to celebrate the name-day of Mozart's own sister Nannerl, which was on 26 July. The work is scored for oboe, 2 horns, 2 violins, viola and "basso", which, as is customary with divertimentos, indicates double bass rather than cello. Although composed in a larger number of parts than was usual for divertimentos, the string parts would have been played solo rather than orchestrally. There are six movements: Molto allegro; Menuetto; Andantino; Menuetto; Rondeau (Allegro assai), and a concluding Marcia alla Francese that may also have served for the performers entrance. Along with K287 (271b) in B flat and K334 in D (320b), the present work forms Mozart's final words on a form he never returned to after settling in Vienna in 1781. Beautifully crafted, elegant music, they form a group of relaxed and beguiling chamber works whose functional background has resulted in them being too frequently overlooked in favor of the more "profound" utterances of the composer.



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