Instrumental Piece in B♭ major (fragment), K. 679
di Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Instrumental Piece in B♭ major (K. 679) is a short surviving fragment, tentatively dated to 1781, with performing forces usually described as “probably for 12 winds and double bass.” Only a brief span of music is transmitted, leaving its original purpose and larger design uncertain.
What Is Known
A brief instrumental fragment in B♭ major survives under the Köchel number K. 679 and is generally dated to 1781 (when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was 25), though the place of origin is not known [1]. The same entry characterizes the scoring only as probable—“wind ensemble à 12 and double bass”—so the exact instrument list cannot be fixed from the catalogue description alone [1]. In Mozart’s biography, 1781 sits at the hinge between the final Salzburg years and the decisive turn toward Vienna, a period in which he was increasingly active with (and imaginative for) wind instruments in both chamber and serenade idioms [2]).
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Musical Content
Because the work survives only as a “short instrumental fragment” [1], it is best understood as a glimpse rather than a complete movement: a passage that suggests the sonorous, choir-like blend Mozart favored when writing for large wind ensembles with contrabass reinforcement. In key and presumed forces it points toward the world of his great B♭ major wind serenade, the Serenade No. 10, K. 361/370a (often associated with twelve winds and double bass), composed in the same year [2]).
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel Catalogue Online: KV 679 entry (title, date, fragment status, probable scoring).
[2] Wikipedia: Serenade No. 10 in B♭, K. 361/370a (date 1781; scoring of twelve winds and double bass; wind-serenade context).