Written in 1952, the Divertimento for wind trio was given its first performance the following year at the Mercury Theatre, Notting Hill Gate, London, by flutist Richard Adeney, oboist Sidney Sutcliffe, and clarinetist Stephen Waters. The three instruments are basically equal partners in this sequence of six short pieces, none of them lasting more than about two minutes. A lively, jaunty tune opens the first movement Allegro energico; its motif of a rising fourth interval and use of grace notes recurs in succeeding movements, giving the Divertimento a sense of unity. The slow second movement, appropriately marked Languido, leads into a Vivace in which the clarinet takes the lead. By contrast, the clarinet rocks back and forth between just two notes in the fourth movement Andantino-Lento, as the other two instruments spin out the lead melody. The Maestoso is stately and march-like, the three instruments playing in unison through much of it. Wild arpeggios close the movement. The lovely final section, Piacevole, is in Arnold's best lyric vein.

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