Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 (more commonly known as Eine kleine Nachtmusik), is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German title translates to "a little night music". Written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, cello and double bass, it is often performed by string orchestras. One of Mozart's most famous works, the serenade was completed in Vienna on 10 August 1787, around the time Mozart was working on the second act of his opera Don Giovanni.
It is the music that was used in the Season 1 episodes The Birthday Balloons, and The Mouse and the Moon,
Summary[]
In Season 1[]
In The Birthday Balloons, Eine kleine Nachtmusik was used as the birthday balloons song, so that Annie's balloons are rescued on her birthday.
In The Mouse and the Moon, Eine kleine Nachtmusik was used as the see the moon song, and is used to help the Little Mouse get to the Moon.
In Season 2[]
The Rondo movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik makes a cameo in Sleeping Bassoon, where a violin tries playing it so that the Sleeping Bassoon wakes up, but fails.
Structure[]
Eine kleine Nachtmusik is structured in four movements:
Serenade No. 13 for strings in G major, K. 525 - Eine kleine Nachtmusik[]
- Allegro (in G major)
- Romanze: Andante (in C major)
- Menuetto: Allegretto (in G major, with trio in D major)
- Finale: Allegro (in G major)
Episode Appearances[]
Season 1[]
- The Birthday Balloons (in D major)
- The Mouse and the Moon (in G major)
Season 2[]
- Sleeping Bassoon (cameo)
- The Secret Mystery Prize (cameo)
Trailer Appearances[]
Video Game Appearances[]
Songs adapted from Eine kleine Nachtmusik[]
The Birthday Balloons[]
The Mouse and the Moon[]
Trivia[]
- It is not known why it was composed.
- Wolfgang Hildesheimer, noting that most of Mozart's serenades were written on commission, suggests that this serenade, too, was a commission, whose origin and first performance were not recorded.
- The work was not published until about 1827, long after Mozart's death, by Johann André in Offenbach am Main. It had been sold to this publisher in 1799 by Mozart's widow Constanze, part of a large bundle of her husband's compositions.
- For a while, the work was thought to have a missing fifth movement. According to Mozart, he listed the work as having five movements ("Allegro – Minuet and Trio – Romance – Minuet and Trio – Finale."). The second movement in his listing — a minuet and trio — was long thought lost, and no one knows if Mozart or someone else removed it.
- Christopher Hogwood used a minuet of Thomas Attwood (found in his sketchbooks used while he took lessons from Mozart), and an additional newly composed trio to substitute the missing movement in his 1984 recording of Eine kleine Nactmusik.
- Musicologist Alfred Einstein suggested, however, that a minuet in the Piano Sonata in B♭ major, K. 498a, is the missing movement.
- K. 498a, which is credited to the composer August Eberhard Müller, incorporates significant amounts of Mozart's work in the form of reworkings of material from the piano concertos K. 450, K. 456, and K. 595, leading Einstein to suggest that the minuet in Müller's sonata might be an arrangement of the missing movement from Eine kleine Nachtmusik.
- In 1971, this movement was incorporated into a recording of the work prepared by the musicologist and performer Thurston Dart. In 1989, the minuet and trio of K. 498a was again recorded as part of an arrangement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik made by Jonathan Del Mar for Nimbus Records.
In popular culture[]
- The serenade is one of Mozart's most famous works, and remains widely performed.
- It was used for three Baby Einstein videos - Baby Galileo, Baby's First Moves, and Baby Lullaby.
- It was subject to parodies by Peter Schickele, both titled Eine kleine Nichtmusik and A Little Nightmare Music respectively.
- This music was being sung by animals in the Big Cola advertisement "Animal Orchestra".
- A short snippet was 8-bit remixed in the game Mario Bros.
Gallery[]
