Mozart’s Serenade in B-flat Major, better known by its subtitle Gran Partita, offers a glorious explosion of Classical-era Harmoniemusik for small wind ensembles, which buoyed up many 18th-century garden get-togethers and outdoor parties. Austrian nobles especially were known for retaining house bands called Harmonien among their staff. The Harmonie of Emperor Joseph II—one of Mozart’s last patrons before the composer’s untimely and mysterious death—set the gold standard for aristocratic entertainment.
Much about the Serenade in B-flat Major is a mystery (its exact year of composition, for instance, or whose scribbling on the manuscript lent the work its enduring nickname). Music scholars estimate it was written around the time Mozart broke with his patronage in Salzburg in 1781 and moved to Vienna to make his own way as a composer and concert pianist.
Exercising freedom to experiment and push boundaries, for the Gran Partita Mozart expanded the traditional Harmonie ensemble from five, six, or eight musicians to thirteen! Oboes, clarinets, basset horns, bassoons, and horns dance together in shifting configurations over the course of seven movements, weaving a fascinating tapestry of sound. Particularly notable is Mozart’s use of the basset horn, a relative of the clarinet invented in the 1760s whose lower register and darker timbre intensify the texture of the large wind ensemble. The composer never allows its timbral density to muddy, thus the Gran Partita’s clarity and richness fully demonstrate the genius that is Mozart.
Its musical grace and power, particularly in the poignant third movement, have seen the Gran Partita referenced centuries later in movies and television. The 1984 film Amadeus imagined the moment when composer Antonio Salieri’s admiration and rivalry with Mozart were both kindled: A performance of the Gran Partita gives a dramatized depiction of Salieri's first encounter with Mozart and his prodigious talent.
“This was a music I'd never heard,” Salieri recalls in an end-of-life confessional scene. “Filled with such longing, such unfulfillable longing. It seemed to me that I was hearing the voice of God.” Actor F. Murray Abraham (seen in the above clip) took home one of Amadeus’ eight Academy Awards for his portrayal of Salieri.
Sarasota Orchestra’s Chamber Soirée Gran Partita is themed on friendship and camaraderie. What better way to capture that spirit than Mozart’s ingenious treatment of party music? The wind ensemble masterpiece that lends this concert its title rises far above background sound. The Gran Partita stands as the main attraction that brings people together in its performance and enjoyment.
