A Musical Joke (German: Ein musikalischer Spaß) K. 522, (Divertimento for two horns and string quartet) is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; the composer entered it in his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke (Catalogue of All My Works) on June 14, 1787. Commentators have opined that the piece's purpose is satirical – that "[its] harmonic and rhythmic gaffes serve to parody the work of incompetent composers"[1] – though Mozart himself is not known to have revealed his actual intentions.
The title A Musical Joke might be a poor rendering of the German original: Spaß does not necessarily connote the jocular, for which the word Scherz would more likely be used. In Fritz Spiegl's view, a more accurate translation would be Some Musical Fun.[2] The sometimes-mentioned nicknames "Dorfmusikantensextett" ("village musicians' sextet") and "Bauernsinfonie" ("farmers' symphony") were added after Mozart's death.
Structure and compositional elementsedit
Mozart's exercise in polytonality, from the end of the piece A 2021 synthesized version of the first movement, performed by Iki Ènèng
The piece consists of four movements and takes about 20 minutes to perform.
clumsy orchestration, backing a thin melodic line with a heavy, monotonous accompaniment in the last movement;
going to the wrong keys for a sonata-form structure (the first movement, for example, never succeeds in modulating to the dominant, and simply jumps there instead after a few failed attempts);
starting the slow movement in the wrong key (G major instead of C major);
a pathetic attempt at a fugato, also in the last movement.
The piece is notable for one of the earliest known uses of polytonality (though not the earliest, being predated by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber's Battalia), creating the gesture of complete collapse at the finale. This may be intended to produce the impression of grossly out-of-tune string playing, since the horns alone conclude in the tonic key. The lower strings behave as if the tonic has become B♭, while the violins and violas switch to G major, A major and E♭ major, respectively.
For a reading of some elements of this composition to the sounds made by Mozart's pet bird, see Mozart's starling.
Whole-tone scales and polytonality are foreign to music of the Classical era. However, these became common for early 20th-century composers like Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky, who were searching for a new musical language. In this later context, these were legitimate new techniques in serious music. In Mozart's time, however, these non-classical elements gave the piece its comedy, expressing the composer's humor.
musical, joke, german, musikalischer, spaß, divertimento, horns, string, quartet, composition, wolfgang, amadeus, mozart, composer, entered, verzeichnis, aller, meiner, werke, catalogue, works, june, 1787, commentators, have, opined, that, piece, purpose, sati. A Musical Joke German Ein musikalischer Spass K 522 Divertimento for two horns and string quartet is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart the composer entered it in his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke Catalogue of All My Works on June 14 1787 Commentators have opined that the piece s purpose is satirical that its harmonic and rhythmic gaffes serve to parody the work of incompetent composers 1 though Mozart himself is not known to have revealed his actual intentions Contents 1 English name 2 Structure and compositional elements 3 References 4 External linksEnglish name editThe title A Musical Joke might be a poor rendering of the German original Spass does not necessarily connote the jocular for which the word Scherz would more likely be used In Fritz Spiegl s view a more accurate translation would be Some Musical Fun 2 The sometimes mentioned nicknames Dorfmusikantensextett village musicians sextet and Bauernsinfonie farmers symphony were added after Mozart s death Structure and compositional elements editThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources A Musical Joke news newspapers books scholar JSTOR August 2020 Learn how and when to remove this template message nbsp Mozart s exercise in polytonality from the end of the piece source source source source source A 2021 synthesized version of the first movement performed by Iki EnengThe piece consists of four movements and takes about 20 minutes to perform Allegro sonata form F major Menuetto and trio F major trio in B major Adagio cantabile C major Presto sonata rondo form F majorCompositorial comedic devices include secondary dominants replacing necessary subdominant chords discords in the horns parallel fifths whole tone scales in the violin s high register clumsy orchestration backing a thin melodic line with a heavy monotonous accompaniment in the last movement going to the wrong keys for a sonata form structure the first movement for example never succeeds in modulating to the dominant and simply jumps there instead after a few failed attempts starting the slow movement in the wrong key G major instead of C major a pathetic attempt at a fugato also in the last movement The piece is notable for one of the earliest known uses of polytonality though not the earliest being predated by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber s Battalia creating the gesture of complete collapse at the finale This may be intended to produce the impression of grossly out of tune string playing since the horns alone conclude in the tonic key The lower strings behave as if the tonic has become B while the violins and violas switch to G major A major and E major respectively For a reading of some elements of this composition to the sounds made by Mozart s pet bird see Mozart s starling This section possibly contains original research Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations Statements consisting only of original research should be removed July 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Whole tone scales and polytonality are foreign to music of the Classical era However these became common for early 20th century composers like Claude Debussy and Igor Stravinsky who were searching for a new musical language In this later context these were legitimate new techniques in serious music In Mozart s time however these non classical elements gave the piece its comedy expressing the composer s humor References edit Sadie Stanley 1980 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians London a href Template Cite book html title Template Cite book cite book a CS1 maint location missing publisher link Untitled talk Radio broadcast BBC Radio 3 October 1981 full citation needed External links editEin musikalischer Spass Score and critical report in German in the Neue Mozart Ausgabe A Musical Joke at the Mutopia Project Ein musikalischer Spass Scores at the International Music Score Library Project Animated score on YouTube Dennis Brain Neill Sanders horn Manoug Parikian violin London Philharmonic Orchestra Guido Cantelli Discussion of Mozart s intentionally bad counterpoint in this work on YouTube Portal nbsp Classical music Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title A Musical Joke amp oldid 1169968749, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
