Mozart, Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525

It is hard to believe that Mozart's serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik," one of his most popular works, is still shrouded in mystery: although it was completed on 10 August 1787, we know neither for what occasion nor for whom it was written. Furthermore, the absence of wind instruments in a serenade is unusual since such works were often given outdoors, where the sound of wind instruments carried better. Finally, the work originally had a second Minuet and Trio, which was torn out of the autographic score - all enigmas that continue to ocupy musiciologists while we bask in the cloudless bliss of this work. Its forceful fanfare opening, lyrical Romanze, stately Minuet set against a bewitching cantilena in the Trio, and fleet-footed finale - all these movements fuse together into one of Mozart's lightest and friendliest scores. Karl Böhm conducts the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. Karl Böhm (1894-1981) was universally acclaimed for his Mozart interpretations. Though Wagner was one of Böhm's first loves, his friendship with Richard Strauss led to a deep knowledge and appreciation of Mozart. In his autobiography, Böhm wrote that "Richard Strauss revealed to me the ultimate secrets of this, in my opinion, greatest of all musical geniuses, Mozart." Böhm's discovery of these secrets transformed his Mozart interpretations into unforgettable events.