Mozart – March in D major K 215

The Serenade No. 5 in D major, K. 204/213a was written on August 5, 1775 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for ceremonies at the University of Salzburg. The work is very similar to K. 203 serenade composed for Salzburg the previous summer.
he serenade is scored for two oboes (doubling flutes), bassoon, two horns, two trumpets and strings. There are seven movements:
1. Allegro assai, 4/4
2. Andante moderato in A major, 3/4
3. Allegro in A major, 2/2
4. Menuetto & Trio, 3/4
5. [Andante] in G major, 2/4
6. Menuetto & Trio, 3/4
7. Andantino Grazioso, 2/4 — Allegro, 3/8
The March in D, K. 215/213b, was used as an introduction or exit for this work.
The second, third and fourth movements all feature the solo violin prominently, forming a three-movement violin concerto within the serenade. This is similar to the K. 203 serenade from the previous year. Mozart probably played the solo violin part himself.
Like most of his orchestral serenades, a symphony was arranged from a subset of the serenade’s movements. The “Serenade Symphony” for this work consists of movements one, five, six and seven (the non-concerto movements).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period.
Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.
He composed more than 600 works, many of which are acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is considered among the greatest classical composers of all time, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years”.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

March in D major K 215

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