Mozart, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, 1st movement, Allegro

The first movement of Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik ("A Little Night-music"), performed by the Advent Chamber Orchestra, accompanied by a scrolling bar-graph score.

FAQ

Q: Where can I get the mp3 of this?
A: You can download it here:
http://www.musanim.com/mp3/k525m1.mp3

Q: How did such a lively song get the name of "A Little Night-music"? It would keep me up all night, not prepare me for sleep!
A: "Night music" is a literal translation of the German word "Nachtmusik" but like many compound words ("pineapple," "breakfast," "cocktail," "bulldozer," "crabgrass," "horseradish," "hushpuppy," "jellyfish," etc.), the common meaning of the word is far from what you'd expect from the meaning of its components. "Serenade" might be a better translation; this word also needs some interpretation; it originally referred to something serene (like a song sung at night to court a woman), but has come to refer to a multi-movement piece for a small instrumental ensemble. BTW, the second movement of this piece (Romanza), is much more soothing.

Q: Is there a way I could make bar-graph scores like this myself?
A: The Music Animation Machine MIDI file player will generate this display; you can get the (Windows) software here:
http://www.musanim.com/player/
There are lots of places on the web where you can get MIDI files; I usually go to the Classical Archives site first:
http://www.classicalarchives.com/

Q: Could you please do a MAM video of _________?
A: First, check my "to do" list:
http://www.musanim.com/all/MAMToDoList.html ...
If the piece isn't listed, read the "Could you please do a MAM video of _________?" item on my main FAQ:
http://www.musanim.com/mam/mamfaq.html#copyright ...
and if you think I'd consider doing it, email me (stephen at musanim dot com).

Q: Please tell me more about the composer.
A: You can read about the composer here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart

Q: Please tell me more about this piece.
A: You can read about the piece here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eine_kleine_nachtmusik

Q: What do the colors in the bar-graph score mean?
A: The colors indicate which section of the orchestra is playing: violin 1, violin 2, viola, violoncello, contrabass.
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Category:

Music

Tags:

• little
• night
• music
• classical
• string
• orchestra
• famous
• popular

[FranzVillaBlanka]

@LihuaEmily I am Austrian so i can tell you the word "Nachtmusik" doesn't really exist. It was just Mozart's attempt of translating Serenade into german.

The charachter of the music is actually more like we call it "Kammermusik" i don't know the english name, literally it would be chambermusic.

[smalin]

@FranzVillaBlanka In English, "chamber music" refers to music with a small number of performers (usually more than one; solos are usually called solos) --- that could be played in somebody's home.

[SanjaRotter]

the only fault of this graph is that it doesn't show quiet-loud relations in the music.

i would do it by +/- saturation of the colours (loud = very intense colour)

[smalin]

@SanjaRotter If you experimented with that (as I have), you'd find that it doesn't work very well.

[PooStupidPoo]

Can I have the first violin of this piece?

[smalin]

@PooStupidPoo  Try looking on IMSLP.

[pa0070707]

Wow! I love love how the square and rectangular pieces align up so perfectly. In my opinion this is on of Mozart's gratest compositions. Thank you so much smalin!

[pa0070707]

Happy Birthday Mozart!

[LihuaEmily]

@Slozor My German isn't very good, so I can easily believe my translation, even if it's literal, is not the correct one! 

[Slozor]

@LihuaEmily Let me tell you, its definately intended to mean A little Night music.

[martinchudada1]

Amazing Mozart....

[sneakywatcher1]

The four peters 0_o

[monkeysox7]

amazing piece learning it for a school assessment :]

[SanjaRotter]

@smalin of course. it's always easier to critisize :P

but it was more a random thought than an actual critique, beacuse your video are great anyway.