Serenade für 13 Instrumente-An announcement in the Wiener-Zeitung read: Concert. Today [23 March 1784] Herr [Anton] Stadler Sr. presently in the service of His Majesty the Emperor will hold a concert for his own benefit at the Royal Imperial National Court Theatre in which among other select pieces he will present a grand work for wind-band of a quite special character composed by Herr Mozart. That this was almost certainly four movements from the present Serenade in B-flat major K.361 is suggested by an account of the occasion published some months later which states Today I heard a composition by Herr Mozart in 4 movements for wind ensemble . . . comprising 13 instruments: 4 horns 2oboes 2 bassoons 2 clarinetts 2 basset horns and a contrabass viol. . . . Much music of the serenade-divertimento-cassation-Nachtmusik type was written in a light style and intended for social occasions rather than formal concerts. In such a context K.361 is striking for its seriousness of artistic content its length (seven movements lasting nearly an hour) and its extended instrumentation (most wind-band music of the period calls for five to eight or nine players not thirteen). If the work was not conceived in the first instance as a concert work its potential as such must have been recognized early on by Mozart or Stadler.- Urtext of the New Mozart Edition- Parts (BA5331-22) and study score format 22.5 x 16.5cm (TP312) available for sale
