

How hard it is to perform this so-
called ‘Little Night Music’,
Eine kleine
Nachtmusik K525
!
In this piece, already luminous in its choice of the key
of G major, Mozart might seem to celebrate in advance
the benefits of official recognition. For Joseph II was
soon to appoint him chamber musician to the imperial
court, a position he achieved only after a considerable
struggle. He completed
Eine kleine Nachtmusik
on 10
August 1787, the same year in which he wrote
Don
Giovanni
; his court post was confirmed on 5 December.
The four-movement score was originally intended for
string quartet, but is equally suited to the sonorities
of an enlarged chamber formation.