Complete Serenades in Full Score, Series II (Dover Music Scores)

Some of Mozart’s most enduring and popular music was originally composed for relatively minor occasions — garden parties, weddings, birthdays, home concerts for his friends, and the like. Among these compositions were the multi-movement instrumental pieces he called “serenades.” Written in the 1770s and 1780s, they include such favorite compositions as Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the Serenata Notturna, A Musical Joke, the “Haffner” Serenade, and the “Posthorn” Serenade. This two-volume set contains all of Mozart’s notturnas as well as the complete serenades. Series I includes: Serenade in D Major, K.185/167a (strings & winds); Serenade in D Major, K.204/213a (strings & winds); Serenata Notturna, K.239 (strings & timpani); “Haffner Serenade, K.250/248b (strings & winds); Serenade in C Minor, K.388/384a (8 winds); and A Musical Joke (Ein musikalischer Spass), K.255 (strings & horns). Reprinted from the authoritative Breitkopf & Hartel edition, these effervescent works are now readily available in these two sturdy, attractive, inexpensive volumes, inviting musicians and music lovers to savor and study their characteristic Mozartean clarity, invention, and charm.