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The term ‘serenade’, often used to describe this work, is almost inappropriate
in this case. Indeed, in both style and proportions it goes beyond the basic
structure of the serenade. The latter implies a work similar to divertimento,
but Mozart’s K361 amounts to much more than that. We do not know the
exact purpose of the score, but it was obviously intended for a concert, for the
pleasure of ‘connoisseurs’, rather than for the entertainment of the nobility.
It must therefore be seen as a
purely instrumental piece, at a
timewhen the genrewas on the
way to gaining its autonomy,
rather than as an occasional
piece.
It is hard to imagine a performance of the Gran Partita in a salon, however
grand. And it was no mere coincidence that Stadler presented the version
for thirteen instruments at the Burgtheater. For it was there that Mozart
gave not only his great concerts (including his piano concertos and his
60 MOZART_ENSEMBLE PHILIDOR