Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

Divertimento in D, K136Two years after the fourteen-year-old Mozart had written his very first string quartet, he wrote three light quartets, his K. 136-138, in 1772. They are not numbered among the Mozart quartets and have, instead, become known as Divertimentos. At the time, the term divertimento was the common Austrian appellation for pieces of chamber music and it does not denote a defined musical category. The word divertimento, like serenade, also used by many musicians for pieces composed during this time period, was usually used to designate a piece composed for a specific occasion like a birthday, engagement, wedding or other similar celebration.

The three divertimenti, K136-138, were all written for four string parts and therefore could be performed as quartets. These works, however, have never been labelled and counted among Mozart's String quartets. Consequently they have often been performed by larger ensembles with two or more instruments playing each part and a double bass doubling the cello part at the octave.

This divertimento shows the influence that the Italian style had on Mozart. Returning to Germany from a trip to Italy with his father Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the precocious sixteen-year-old, demonstrated in this and the other divertimenti exactly how formative his travel experience had been in shaping his musical sensibility. This work is in three movements. The opening Allegro is a virtuoso piece for violins who carry on a dialogue much like those found in Vivaldis concertos which feature two solo groupings. The slow and graceful second movement which is the most Italianate of the three, is lush and eloquent. The Presto finale bears musical reference to a work the young Mozart had studied in Italy, Giovanni B. Martini's Art of the Fugue.