2 Menuette, KV 604 (string trio – 2 violins and cello)

Title: 2 Menuette, KV 604

Composer: W. A. Mozart, arr. David Gable

Instrumentation: Violin 1; Violin 2; Cello

Printout: 8 pages

Note: Written in 1791 while Mozart was in the employ of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, these two minuets possess both the light-hearted spirit of the composer’s youth and the polish of his maturity. They use the Salzburg orchestration (no violas) despite not being written during the Salzburg period of Mozart’s life), and they  fully exploit the possibilities of two treble voices and bass. Written at the same time as The Magic Flute and the unfinished Requiem, they share many traits with these larger and more serious works.