Divertimento No. 16 in E♭ major (doubtful), K. 289
von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Divertimento No. 16 in E♭ major (K. 289, also catalogued as K. 271g) is a compact four-movement work for six winds, long associated with Salzburg in 1777, when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was 21. Its attribution has been questioned in modern scholarship, yet the piece remains a telling specimen of late-18th-century outdoor wind writing in an affable, serenade-like vein.
Background and Context
In 1777 Mozart was still employed in Salzburg under Archbishop Colloredo, writing for a court culture that prized practical, sociable music for dining, garden events, and ceremonial display. K. 289 belongs to that functional world of wind divertimenti: music intended to project clearly in open air, to flatter competent court players, and to balance ease of execution with enough contrapuntal craft to reward attentive listening. Modern critical work has raised doubts about whether Mozart is truly the author, and the work is therefore best heard as “Mozartian” rather than securely Mozart—close in idiom to the Salzburg wind repertory, but not beyond question.[2]
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Musical Character
The scoring—Winds: 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns—places the work squarely in Harmonie tradition, with the horns providing harmonic pillars and bright E♭-major resonance while the paired reeds share most of the melodic and conversational material.[1]
Across four movements (Adagio–Allegro; Menuetto–Trio; Adagio; Finale: Presto), the writing favors clean phrase symmetry, clear cadential punctuation, and registral contrasts between oboe brilliance and bassoon warmth.[1] The outer movements rely on buoyant rhythmic drive and idiomatic “calls” for the horns; the central Adagio movements, by contrast, slow the harmonic rhythm and invite a more blended reed sonority—less theatrical than operatic Mozart, more aligned with elegant background music that nevertheless keeps a poised sense of line.
Place in the Catalog
Whether or not K. 289 is authentically Mozart, its design and instrumentation sit naturally beside the Salzburg-era wind pieces typically dated to the mid-to-late 1770s, before the grand Viennese wind serenades expanded the genre’s scale and contrapuntal ambition.[1][2]
[1] IMSLP: Divertimento in E-flat major, K.289/271g — instrumentation and movement list; basic catalog data.
[2] Digital Mozart Edition (Mozarteum): New Mozart Edition volume X/29/2 (Works of Dubious Authenticity) — includes Divertimento in E♭, K.271g/289 and references discussing doubtful authorship.