Picciola serenata (little serenade) in B-flat major is a serenade written by Italian composer Antonio Salieri scored for five instruments: 2 oboes, 2 horns and 1 bassoon. The piece was composed in 1778 and consists of four movements.
In music theory, B-flat major is a major scale based on B♭, with pitches B♭, C, D, E♭, F, G, and A. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative minor is G minor and its parallel minor is B-flat minor.
In music, a serenade is a musical composition and/or performance delivered in honor of someone or something. Serenades are typically calm, light pieces of music. The term comes from the Italian word serenata, which itself derives from the Latin serenus.
Antonio Salieri was an Italian classical composer, conductor, teacher and rival of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was born in Legnago, south of Verona, in the Republic of Venice, and spent his adult life and career as a subject of the Habsburg Monarchy.
Salieri wrote Picciola Serenata in B-flat major in 1778. The piece was written at the beginning of his Italian tour, and shortly after he had been appointed the director of the Italian opera in 1774. Salieris success as a composer was approaching its peak, as his music quietly faded in popularity into the beginning of the 1800s.
It wasn't until the 20th century that Salieri resurged in popularity, namely due to the depiction of Salieri in Peter Shaffer's 1979 play 'Amadeus', which was later adapted into the film by the same name.
Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer which gives a highly fictionalized account of the lives of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, first performed in 1979. It was inspired by Alexander Pushkin's short 1830 play Mozart and Salieri, which Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used in 1897 as the libretto for an opera of the same name.
'Picciola Serenata in B-flat major' is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns and 1 bassoon.
The serenade is in four movements as follows:
The opening movement begins with a stately entrance in B flat major in which the two oboes present the motive while the bassoon and two horns provide a strong foundation of the tonic chord on the downbeat. In measure 25, the piece modulates to F major, using the same material from the opening. The piece uses strong use of the tonic and dominant chord.
Keeping with the exalted feel of the first movement, the second movement opens with the melody in the horn, the other instruments accompanying with eighth notes in a 6:8 meter. The majority of this movement is in F major, usually and often modulating to the dominant key of C major. The movement ends in the key of F major.
The third movement is a minuet in 3:4, which is very common for a four movement serenade. The movements tonal center is B flat major. This movement takes many harmonic and melodic elements from the first two, namely the frequent modulation to the tonic key and chromatic passing tones. Similar to the first movement and unlike the second, the piece uses first and second oboes to carry most of the melodic content, while the horns and bassoon provide harmony and counterpoint.
The fourth movement, 'Presto' is the final movement of the piece. Again, we see a lot of the same compositional devices being used here. It frequently plays within the tonic or dominant triad. Towards the end of the movement, there is a cadenza in the first oboe all centered around the V chord of F major. After which, the piece returns to the opening material of the movement, ending in B flat major.
In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display. During this time the accompaniment will rest, or sustain a note or chord. Thus an improvised cadenza is indicated in written notation by a fermata in all parts. A cadenza will usually occur over the final or penultimate note in a piece, the lead-in or over the final or penultimate note in an important subsection of a piece. It can also be found before a final coda or ritornello.
The Piano Concerto No. 2 in B♭ major, Op. 83, by Johannes Brahms is separated by a gap of 22 years from his first piano concerto. Brahms began work on the piece in 1878 and completed it in 1881 while in Pressbaum near Vienna. It is dedicated to his teacher, Eduard Marxsen. The public premiere of the concerto was given in Budapest on 9 November 1881, with Brahms as soloist and the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, and was an immediate success. He proceeded to perform the piece in many cities across Europe.
Symphony No. 1 in C minor, Op. 68, is a symphony written by Johannes Brahms. Brahms spent at least fourteen years completing this work, whose sketches date from 1854. Brahms himself declared that the symphony, from sketches to finishing touches, took 21 years, from 1855 to 1876. The premiere of this symphony, conducted by the composer's friend Felix Otto Dessoff, occurred on 4 November 1876, in Karlsruhe, then in the Grand Duchy of Baden. A typical performance lasts between 45 and 50 minutes.
Giovanni Battista Pescetti was an organist and composer. Born in Venice around 1704, he studied under Antonio Lotti for some time. Having spent some time writing operas in and around Venice, he left for London in 1736, becoming director of the Opera of the Nobility in 1737.
The Serenade No. 10 for winds in B-flat major, K. 361/370a, is a serenade by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart scored for thirteen instruments: twelve winds and string bass. The piece was probably composed in 1781 or 1782 and is often known by the subtitle "Gran Partita", though the title is a misspelling and not in Mozart's hand. It consists of seven movements.
The Quintet in E♭ major for Piano and Winds, K. 452, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on March 30, 1784 and premiered two days later at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna. Shortly after the premiere, Mozart wrote to his father that "I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life." It is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.
Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 29 in D minor, Opus 1 No. 3, Perger 20, Sherman 29, MH 393, written in Salzburg in 1784, is the only minor key symphony he wrote. It is the first of four D minor symphonies attributed to Joseph Haydn.
Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 36 in B-flat major, Perger 28, Sherman 36, MH 475, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last B-flat major symphony he wrote, the third of his final set of six symphonies.
Hyacinthe Jadin was a French composer who came from a musical family. His uncle Georges Jadin was a composer in Versailles and Paris, along with his father Jean Jadin, who had played bassoon for the French Royal Orchestra. He was one of five musical brothers, the best known of whom was Louis-Emmanuel Jadin.
Ernest Chausson's Symphony in B-flat major, Op. 20, his only symphony, was written in 1890 and is often considered his masterpiece.
The Op. 33 String Quartets were written by Joseph Haydn in the summer and Autumn of 1781 for the Viennese publisher Artaria. This set of quartets has several nicknames, the most common of which is the "Russian" quartets, because Haydn dedicated the quartets to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia and many of the quartets were premiered on Christmas Day, 1781, at the Viennese apartment of the Duke's wife, the Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna.
An organ concerto is a piece of music, an instrumental concerto for a pipe organ soloist with an orchestra. The form first evolves in the 18th century, when composers including Antonio Vivaldi, Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel wrote organ concertos with small orchestras, and with solo parts which rarely call for the organ pedal board. During the Classical period the organ concerto became popular in many places, especially in Bavaria, Austria and Bohemia, reaching a position of being almost an integral part of the church music tradition of jubilus character. From the Romantic era fewer works are known. Finally, there are some 20th- and 21st-century examples, of which the concerto by Francis Poulenc has entered the basic repertoire, and is quite frequently played.
The Serenade for Orchestra No. 9 in D major K. 320, Posthorn, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, in 1779. The manuscript is dated 3 August 1779 and was intended for the University of Salzburg's "Finalmusik" ceremony that year.
Symphony No. 35 in B♭ major, Hoboken I/35, was written by Joseph Haydn. The autograph score is "carefully" dated "December 10, 1767". It has been speculated that this symphony was written to celebrate Prince Esterházy's return from a visit to the Palace of Versailles.
The Symphony No. 20 in C major is a festive symphony by Joseph Haydn. Hodgson places the composition date in either 1761 or 1762 while Brown states that it was likely composed before 1761.
Joseph Haydn's Stabat Mater Hob. XXa:1 was written in 1767, for soprano, alto, tenor and bass soloists, mixed choir, 2 oboes both doubling English horn in the sections in E-flat major, strings and organ continuo. The first performance is believed to have taken place March 25, 1768 in Vienna with soloists Anna Maria Scheffstoss and Carl Friberth, with Haydn conducting from the harpsichord. Conductor Jonathan Green suggests adding a bassoon to double the bass line and perhaps just one player to each string part.
The Concerti Grossi, Op. 3, HWV 312–317, are six concerti grossi by George Frideric Handel compiled into a set and published by John Walsh in 1734. Musicologists now agree that Handel had no initial knowledge of the publishing. Instead, Walsh, seeking to take advantage of the commercial success of Corelli's Opus 6 Concerti Grossi, simply combined several of Handel's already existing works and grouped them into six "concertos".
Galimathias musicum in D major, K. 32, is a quodlibet composed in March 1766 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart during his grand tour of Europe. It was first performed at The Hague on 11 March 1766. A typical performance of this piece lasts twenty minutes.
Symphony No. 2, Ascensão (Ascension) is a composition by the Brazilian composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, written between 1917 and 1944.
The divertimenti in F major, B-flat major, E-flat major, F major, and B-flat major are five companion compositions for pairs of oboes, horns and bassoons by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Cited sources
Scores
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Video performances
I. Allegretto
II. Larghetto
III. Minuetto - Allegro non troppo
IV. Presto