Divertimento in F major (fragment), K. 288
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Divertimento in F major (fragment), K. 288, is a surviving torso from Salzburg (1776), dating from the composer’s twentieth year. What remains—an Allegro for two horns and strings—offers a brief glimpse of the outdoor-serenade style Mozart was refining alongside his larger Salzburg commissions.
What Is Known
Only a single movement fragment survives: an Allegro of 77 bars, preserved as part of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe volume devoted to divertimenti for mixed strings and winds.[1] The scoring indicated in modern catalogues is compact and typical for Salzburg divertimento repertory—Brass: 2 horns (in F); Strings: violin, viola, and bass (i.e., a bass line for cello/double bass).[2]
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The fragment is generally dated to 1776 in Salzburg.[2] In that period, Mozart was producing a steady stream of functional instrumental music for local use—serenades, cassations, marches, and divertimenti—often designed for flexible forces and for players available in the archiepiscopal city.
Musical Content
What survives suggests the opening of a bright, assertive first movement: an Allegro in F major that places the two horns in a prominent, coloristic role against a lean string texture.[2] Even in fragmentary form, the piece points toward Mozart’s Salzburg knack for ceremonial brilliance—horn calls, clear phrasing, and energetic rhythmic profile—compressed here into a miniature span that breaks off before a full movement design can be confirmed from the surviving pages.[1]
[1] Neue Mozart-Ausgabe (Digital Mozart Edition), NMA VII/18 table of contents listing the appendix entry for the fragment: “Fragment of a movement of a divertimento in F … K. 288 … Allegro”.
[2] IMSLP work page for Divertimento in F major, K. 288/246c: dating (1776), extent (77-bar fragment), and instrumentation (2 horns in F; violin, viola, bass).