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We do not know for whom the three divertimenti recorded here were written,
nor if Mozart intended to dedicate them to someone in particular. All we know is
that they form a set numbered from one to three in the manuscripts. Each of them
comprises just threemovements, whichmay seemstrange in so far as the Classical
divertimento generally includes a larger number of movements. Mozart appears
initially to have composed the three works for string quartet and to have offered
them to a publisher together – it was easier to negotiate the sale of a ready-made
set rather than several separate pieces. Then, on second thoughts, he took certain
passages of the bass part down an octave, thus making the set suitable
ad libitum
for a string orchestra with double basses.
The first of the set, the
Divertimento in D major K136
(Allegro, Andante, Presto),
is generally regarded as the most successful. An interlacing web of rich and
delicate melodies makes up its structure, perfectly stable in both harmonic and
rhythmic terms. The use of changes and contrasts is particularly ingenious: for
example, in the last movement, the opening melody of the work recurs in the form
of variations. The Andante reflects the then-fashionable Italian style, that of the
sinfonias of Giuseppe Sammartini (1695-1750), but also the idiom of the quartets of
JohannMichael Haydn (1737-1806), younger brother of Joseph – twomusicians who
were a great inspiration to the young Mozart.
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