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In the Spring of 1782, the Emperor Joseph II decided
to found an octet of wind instruments, which he
named “k. k. Harmonie” (Imperial and Royal Wind
Ensemble). He was soon imitated by his brother
Prince Maximilian, who created his own ensemble,
and then by the leading members of the nobility in
the course of the 1780
s
. Hence an original and long-
lasting fashion took root in the palaces of Vienna.
This tradition of wind music originated in Bohemia, where most of the finest
wind players of the time were recruited. The standard ensemble was at first
a sextet of wind instruments, consisting of two oboes (or cors anglais), two
bassoons and two horns, in fact a double trio: Joseph Haydn wrote several
pieces for this formation in the 1760
s
. Then wind players began to make up
octets by adding two clarinets to the basic ensemble. (The clarinet, favoured
by rapid progress in techniques of instrument making at this time, proved a
valuable adjunct, giving scope for pianissimo sonorities and half-tones which
came less naturally to the oboe.) The principle of the octet formation is to
attempt to recreate on wind instruments a balance of sound approaching
the perfection of the string quartet, whose structure is reproduced here:
the oboe corresponds to the first violin part, the bassoon to the cello part,
whilst the clarinet and the horn take up the inner voices of second violin and
viola. The ensemble’s bass can be enriched by the addition of a double bass,
as Mozart does in his Serenade KV 361. This solution is adopted in the present
recordingse.
48 MOZART_ENSEMBLE PHILIDOR