w.a Mozart - Divertimento No. 8

in F Major, K. 213

Mozart’s Divertimento No. 8 in F major, K. 213, is one of five surviving wind sextets scored for two oboes, two horns, and two bassoons.  Divertimenti, Cassations and Serenades were of the music genre called Tafelmusik (table music), and were played at social events such as weddings, graduations, and birthdays.

Composed after his return from Italy to Salzburg in March of 1773, Mozart was just seventeen years old.  During that year, among other compositions, he wrote six or seven symphonies, four divertimenti, six string quartets, a piano concerto, and a mass. 

In this arrangement for three guitars, all of Mozart’s original dynamics, phrasing indications and articulations have been preserved. 

Both a full score and individual guitar parts are included. The paucity of dynamic and phrasing indications in almost all nineteenth century guitar publications is a situation all later generations of guitarists must encounter and deal with.  Countless first editions of music by Fernando Sor, Mauro Giuliani, Dionisio Aguado and others are devoid of, or contain minimal performance indications.  Among guitar composers, the underrated Czech composer and guitarist Wenzeslaus Thomas Matiegka (1773–1830) published his scores with a wealth of dynamic, articulation, and phrasing marks.  His example was the exception, rather than the rule.

Mozart’s scores are fully notated with performance indications, and the woodwind parts of his Divertimento No. 8 are no exception.  This arrangement faithfully has kept all of Mozart’s dynamics and articulations.  Even though a woodwind player interprets a staccato mark according to the traditions of the woodwind being played, the guitarist can also consider and work out interpretive realizations of the original in a way suited to the guitar and the context of the music.