Minuet from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik by Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was one of the most popular classical composers, writing over 600 musical works. The piece Eine Kleine Nachtmusik is a serenade for a string quartet, and is one of Mozart's most popular and enduring works. The Minuet is the third movement of this serenade. The melody is carried by the first violin throughout this short movement. It is quite suitable for performance on various woodwind instruments such as the flute, clarinet, oboe, or saxophone.

Mozart was known for his use of the chromatic scale, an innovation of classical music. The chromatic scale was an outcome of the 'even tempered scale' made famous by J.S. Bach in The Well Tempered Clavier in 1722. Although we are well accustomed to the chromatic scale today, the flute of classical times was not well suited for it. It was not until Theobald Boehm introduced the Boehm flute in 1847 that chromatic scales became easy. A similar fingering system was adapted for the clarinet by Klose and Buffet based upon this system. However, the violin was as well suited for chromatic tones as it is today.

There are two peculiar items which give this piece musical interest. The first is an Interruption between chromatic notes. This is seen in measure 9 where the eight note string goes from E to D# and then to F# before the E in the next measure. The chromatic D# to E is interrupted by an upper F#. This happens again in measure 10 where the note B interrupts the flow from G# to A. Finally, this device is repeated a third time in measure 11, with the E interrupting the movement of the C# to the D of measure 12. The second musical device is the use of the chromatic and scale, as seen in measure 21.

In the Baroque and Classical period of music, the trill was performed differently from how it is performed today. For this Minuet, start the trill with the note above the written trill note as a grace note on the beat (The Trill in the Classical Period at www.oldflutes.com). Since the eighth note is short, you might only get two more upper notes in during the trill. Starting on the upper note, on the beat, would be the musical practice before about 1790, the modern trill starting on the written note would become the standard practice by about 1800.

In playing this music, all the repeats should be observed. At the bottom of the page is an indication, Menuetto de capo, which simply means to go back to the beginning of the menuetto. I have inserted the word fine (pronounced fee-nay') to indicate the ending (play that repeat first). No, it doesn't mean that the music was 'fine' as in good, but 'fee-nay' as in finished.

When practicing this piece, rather than performing, be sure to spend an equal amount of time on the Trio. By simply playing the Minuet as written, you will be playing the Allegretto twice as often as the Trio. The audience can often tell when an amateur is performing, because the often repeated parts (Allegretto) will sound well practiced and smooth compared to the section (Trio) which is not practiced as much. In fact, the amateur may inadvertently pause at the start of the Trio because it is not as familiar.