We know from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart`s personal notes that “A Little Night Music” („Eine kleine Nachtmusik“) was finished in August 1787 in Vienna, the same year that he was working on his opera “Don Giovanni”. The reason for his writing this very popular music is not known.
According to Mozart`s records “A Little Night Music” („Eine kleine Nachtmusik“) originally consisted of five movements, but of one of the two minuets was lost. The four movements are: Allegro, Romance (Andante), Menuetto (Allegretto) and Rondo (Allegro); the duration of performance is 16 minutes. The composition has the function of a serenade, which was performed in the evening and is a genre for playing music in a convivial atmosphere at the end of the 18th century. Originally composed for string quintet it can also be performed by a small string orchestra.
“A Little Night Music” („Eine kleine Nachtmusik“) is the last of the so called symphonic-instrumental subsidiary forms which Mozart composed. Despite its brevity it is as complete and perfect in its contents as a symphony. There is no other composition in classical music where the title of the work is more synonymous with the name of the composer.