The highlight of the night – Szczecin Philharmonic Musicians

Luigi Boccherini (1743-1805) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) are typical representatives of the Classicism era. However, in addition to serious works, such as operas, symphonies and masses, they had to compose entertainment music. They knew perfectly well that the attractiveness of the latter was crucial.

Boccherini's work is enormous. He is unjustly associated today with only the famous minuet from Quintet No. 13. Numerous symphonies, cantatas, oratorios, operas, a whole lot of chamber music, and above all cello concertos were all written by him. It must be known that the artist, as a virtuoso of the cello, introduced it to the pantheon of solo instruments. For the first time in the history of the cello, in Boccherini's hands it sounded as melodious as a violin, thanks to the use of high registers, while enchanting with a warm, low sound. The virtuosity of cello works of this Italian composer, even today possess a real difficulty for adepts of the art of playing this instrument, which because of the way of holding (between legs) admittedly refers to viola da gamba, but due to its shape it belongs to the violin family.

This well-known "Boccherini's minuet" is a trace of a large number (over 110) of quintets with the characteristic cast of this cello king from the Classical era, namely: 2 violins, 1 viola, 2 cellos. Quintets belong to the group of chamber entertainment pieces. Quintet No. 7 in E minor belongs to the group of guitar quintets, referring to the color of Spanish music. It was created in 1799 and to put a bit of Spanish spirit into the string makeup, a guitar was added. However, this is not original music, because Boccherini transcribed an earlier piano quintet from 1797 here. The composition comes from a time when the chamber music of the Italian cellist began to herald the arrival of a new romantic era.More often you can hear the exploration of molar thematic episodes, and the narrative surprises with dramatism far from the aesthetics of a carefree minuet. The other two quintets are music from the bright carefree years of early Classicism (1773), perfectly fitting to the idiom of light music, serenading music which does not leave listeners to a special focus – making the chanting of the aristocracy pleasant. The compositions from opus 21 in D major and No. 6 in E flat major belong to a series of flint quintets, i.e. made in the composition: flute, 2 violins, viola and cello.

Serenade by W.A. Mozart KV 575 also comes from the Unterhaltungsmusik circle, or entertainment music, but in this case performed by wind instrument ensembles. This practice was called Harmoniemusik in the 18th century. The essence was to present the perfect consonance of the instruments (harmony), which occurred in pairs: 2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 horns, 2 bassoons. These types of works, called partits, serenades or cassavas, were created in great abundance at the courts of the Habsburg aristocracy. They were popular at princes' courts, where, for example, they presented alterations to operas and ballets at the table. They were also popular in church and military circles. Mozart knew this tradition and when he became independent by moving to Vienna (from Salzburg), in addition to great operatic works ("The abduction of Seraglio") and piano concertos (in which he wanted to show his virtuosic skills), he presented serenades in Vienna, because he knew that nothing would help a serious career like popular or entertaining music. In Vienna, the serenades in C minor KV 388, B major KV 361 and in E major KV 575, originally intended as a sextet composed of 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons, became well known. We learn about this first version from the letter by Mozart dated November 3, 1781: "At eleven o'clock in the evening, I was giving a serenade for 2 clarinets, 2 horns and 2 bassoons of my own composition. I composed it for St. Teresa’s Day for the sister of Mrs. von Hickel, the sister-in-law of Mr. von Hickel (court painter). It was for them that they were made for the first time. The six musicians are skinny, but they play very nicely, especially the first clarinettist and the two horn players. (...) On the night of St. Teresa, they played it in three different places. They barely finished playing in one, and they were called somewhere else and got paid each time. They ordered the gate to open, and stood in the middle of the yard and, as I was about to undress, they surprised me with the initial chord in E flat major in the nicest way in the world".