Cassation in D major (Serenade No. 1), K. 100
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Mozart’s Cassation in D major (often called Serenade No. 1), K. 100 (K⁶ 62a), was composed in Salzburg in 1769, when the composer was just 13. Designed for festive, likely outdoor entertainment, it already shows a confident command of Salzburg’s serenade tradition—mixing ceremonial brightness with surprisingly refined, color-conscious slow movements.
Mozart’s Life at the Time
In 1769, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was 13 and back in Salzburg after the Viennese sojourns of his childhood and the major tours that had made him a European curiosity. Salzburg’s court and civic culture maintained a steady demand for functional orchestral music—serenades, cassations, marches—intended for summer evenings, celebrations, and public occasions rather than the concert hall as later understood.[1]
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K. 100 belongs to a small cluster of Salzburg “serenade-like” works from the same year (notably K. 63 and K. 99/63a), suggesting that the teenage Mozart was learning to supply the local market with attractive, practical pieces—music that had to project outdoors, flatter available players, and keep a social event moving.[1]
Composition and Manuscript
The Cassation in D major, K. 100/62a, is generally dated to the summer of 1769 in Salzburg, though the precise occasion is uncertain.[1] Like many Salzburg serenades, it was associated with an introductory march: the March in D major, K. 62, written to precede the serenade and later reused in Act I of Mozart’s opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (premiered in Milan on 26 December 1770).[1]
The serenade proper comprises eight movements (the march is counted separately in many listings).[1][2] Its scoring is festive and practical for open air:
- Winds: 2 oboes
- Brass: 2 horns, 2 trumpets (in D)
- Strings: violins I & II, viola, bass (cello/double bass as customary)
Notably, the march’s autograph scoring is reported to include cello and timpani—apparently omitted from the serenade itself for reasons of outdoor convenience.[1]
Musical Character
K. 100 is characteristic of the Salzburg cassation/serenade as a “multi-purpose” form: an opening Allegro and a closing fast movement frame a sequence of contrasting inner numbers, including multiple minuets.[1] Its movement plan is straightforward but effective:
- I. Allegro (D major)
- II. Andante
- III. Menuetto e Trio
- IV. Allegro
- V. Menuetto e Trio
- VI. Andante (A major)
- VII. Menuetto e Trio
- VIII. Allegro (rondo finale)
What makes this “light” music worth attention is the way Mozart begins to treat timbre and texture as expressive arguments, not mere decoration. Contemporary descriptions emphasize prominent writing for oboes and horns in the central span, hinting at the social reality behind the notes: serenades doubled as showcases for specific court musicians.[1]
Even more striking is the sixth movement Andante in A major, whose scoring departs from the bright ceremonial palette: muted violins, divided violas, pizzicato bass, and flutes replacing the oboes create an intimate, nocturnal sonority—exactly the sort of “private” poetry that, in Mozart’s maturity, would make the serenade a genre capable of genuine depth.[1] Heard in this light, K. 100 is not merely an apprentice work: it is an early document of Mozart learning how to write music that can function socially while still inviting concentrated listening—an essential Salzburg skill he would later refine in the great serenades of the 1770s.
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[1] Wikipedia: overview, date/place (Salzburg 1769), relationship to March K. 62 and reuse in *Mitridate*, instrumentation outline, movement plan, and notes on the A-major Andante scoring.
[2] IMSLP work page: cataloguing data for K. 100/62a (key, year, eight movements) and public-domain score access.