Mozart Serenade No 10 for winds – Gran Partita

‘I heard music for wind instruments today by Herr Mozart, in four movements, glorious and sublime. It consisted of 13 instruments, viz., four horns, two oboes, two bassoons, two clarinets, two bassethorns, a double bass, and at each instrument sat a master – Oh what an effect it made – glorious and grand, excellent and sublime.’
Hindsight is not always flattering to the judgements of first-night reviewers, but there can be little to argue with in this contemporary account of the first known performance of the piece generally known as Mozart’s ‘Serenade for 13 wind instruments’, save that the work was even grander than the writer thought since for some reason only four of its seven movements were played. The occasion was a benefit concert for the clarinettists Anton and Johann Stadler given in Vienna’s National Theatre, and, while we do not know if the Serenade was written specially for it (there is disagreement among experts as to its date of composition, with some suggesting it could have been written as early as 1781-2), both concert and piece are examples of Mozart’s deep-seated affinity for wind instruments and their players