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Composing for
Harmonie
also gave Mozart an opportunity to write for
instruments he particularly appreciated for their character and their timbre,
as may be seen from all his later compositions, whether they be piano
concertos, symphonies or operas, in which wind instruments always have
important solo parts. We might say that the whole of Mozart’s
œuvre
is
illuminated by the presence of wind instruments, a presence that could be
seen as a distinctive feature of his compositions.
At the same time,
Harmoniemusik
gave him an opportunity to experiment
with new sounds and techniques, at a time when wind instrument makers
were coming into their own. In composing forwind sextet in 1775,Mozartwas
adopting a completely newmusical
technology
, which consisted in combining
the heterogeneous timbres of the oboes, the horns and the bassoons, but
which could offer contrasts, new sounds, ‘harmony’ in the literal sense of the
word. The term
Harmonie
, used to refer to a group of wind instruments, does
indeed mean ‘harmony, concord’, referring to the fact of bringing together
instruments for the pleasure of their colours, their timbres
For this reason, it is important to listen to Mozart’s
Harmoniemusik
played
on period instruments, whose apparent imperfections are a source of
further enjoyment for the listener. The very heterogeneous character of the
different sounds produced by early instruments creates a sort of imbalance
in the timbres and dynamics, which Mozart uses with the greatest skill. The
differences in phrasing and dynamics become a source of greater richness,
sharper contrasts, more marked contours, more varied colours, in short,
of more intense dramatic qualities, in which the distinctive features of the
instrument themselves become a source of emotion and a natural form of
interpretation.
WORKS FORWIND INSTRUMENTS 47