Mozart: Eine kleine Nachtmusik

Mozart
Originally uploaded by Huang Xiang and William Rock

Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major) is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, says Wikipedia.

The German title means "a little serenade," though it is often rendered more literally but less accurately as "a little night music."[1] The work is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, and cello with optional double bass.

The serenade was completed in Vienna around the time Mozart was working on the second act of his opera Don Giovanni.[3]

Hildesheimer (1991, 215), noting that most of Mozart's serenades were written on commission, suggests that this serenade, too, was a commission.

The work was not published until about 1827, long after Mozart's death, by Johann André in Offenbach am Main.[2] It had been sold to this publisher in 1799 by Mozart's widow Constanze, part of a large bundle of her husband's compositions.

Today the serenade is widely performed and recorded; indeed both Jacobson (2003, 38) and Hildesheimer (1992, 215) opine that the serenade is the most popular of all Mozart's works. Of the music, Hildesheimer writes, "even if we hear it on every street corner, its high quality is undisputed, an occasional piece from a light but happy pen."[7]

The work has four movements:
Allegro
Romanze: Andante
Menuetto: Allegretto
Rondo: Allegro

Tempo terminology . . .

Larghissimo – very, very slow (19 BPM and under)
Grave – slow and solemn (20–40 BPM)
Lento – slowly (40–45 BPM)
Largo – broadly (45–50 BPM)
Adagio – slow and stately (literally, "at ease") (55–65 BPM)
Andante moderato – a bit slower than andante (69-72 BPM)
Andante – at a walking pace (73–77 BPM)
Marcia moderato – moderately, in the manner of a march[4][5] (83-85 BPM)
Moderato – moderately (86–97 BPM)

Allegro – fast, quickly and bright (109–132 BPM)
Vivace – lively and fast (132-140 BPM) (quicker than allegro)
Vivacissimo – very fast and lively (140-150 BPM)
Presto – very fast (168–177 BPM)
Prestissimo – extremely fast (178 BPM and over)