# Mozart Divertimento in D Major K334 - "Unknown" Masterpiece.



## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Nobody ever seems to mention K334 - the divertimento in D major.

It seems to me analogous to the more famous divertimento K563 in terms of being relatively little known given the quality of the music.

Any thoughts - how well do you know this piece? Are my claims to it being a masterpiece justified? It sounds to me like one of Mozart's major chamber compositions.

Favourite recordings?


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

I have what may be a strange favorite:









K. 247 and K. 287 are also beautiful.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Ras said:


> I have what may be a strange favorite:
> 
> View attachment 109444
> 
> ...


All 3 on one disc? I like those two as well but I think K334 is on a higher plane - more serious than one might expect of this genre.

I used to have a recording on Philips - there's a good one on Hyperion too I think.


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

stomanek said:


> All 3 on one disc?


All three on 2 cds with K. 287 split halfway through.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

stomanek said:


> Nobody ever seems to mention K334 - the divertimento in D major.
> 
> It seems to me analogous to the more famous divertimento K563 in terms of being relatively little known given the quality of the music.
> 
> ...


Yes wonderful music, I'd never heard it before so thanks for starting the thread. My ears first pricked up in the second movement, but there's a such of lot of fine music in it, and so characterful. A fabulous discovery to end the day.


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Mandryka said:


> Yes wonderful music, I'd never heard it before so thanks for starting the thread. My ears first pricked up in the second movement, but there's a such of lot of fine music in it, and so characterful. A fabulous discovery to end the day.


Great - glad you discovered it.


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## Enthusiast (Mar 5, 2016)

stomanek said:


> Nobody ever seems to mention K334 - the divertimento in D major.


Good call! There is a wealth of good music among the divertimenti - some more profound than others but many of them are wonderful in one way or another - and K334 is one of the great ones.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Agree. Along with K 251, which you might like also, and K 563, these are my favorite Mozart Divertimentos.


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

Does anyone agree with me that there's something rather like Haydn about the feel of K 334? Maybe it's just the horn which is making me think that. I'm not terribly familiar with either Mozart's or Haydn's music, I should say, so maybe what I'm thinking is nonsense.

the recording I listened to last night was with Archibudelli.


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## ProudSquire (Nov 30, 2011)

Of the divertimentos that I've listened to, this one managed to escape my radar. After listening to it, I must say that ,the Divertimento in D Major K334 is a very lovely piece that I'll be revisiting for sure. Good call, stomanek. :cheers:


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

Mandryka said:


> Does anyone agree with me that there's something rather like Haydn about the feel of K 334? Maybe it's just the horn which is making me think that. I'm not terribly familiar with either Mozart's or Haydn's music, I should say, so maybe what I'm thinking is nonsense.
> 
> the recording I listened to last night was with Archibudelli.


Not sure as I am not familiar with Haydns divertimenti. I did listen to 2 on a CD I have a while ago and seem to recall one was rather dull - the other had a coupe of decent movements. Any idea which are the best?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

I don’t know Haydn’s divertimenti at all. I think part of the reason I said it was a sort of humour that I sensed in the Archibudelli performance, and I associate that sort of thing with Haydn. Another reason may just be a memory of a Symphonia Concertante for two horns, symphony 51, which has a lovely second movement.


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## Wilhelm Theophilus (Aug 8, 2020)

Am I allowed to like k136?


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## Mandryka (Feb 22, 2013)

PlaySalieri said:


> Nobody ever seems to mention K334 - the divertimento in D major.
> 
> It seems to me analogous to the more famous divertimento K563 in terms of being relatively little known given the quality of the music.
> 
> ...


Yes I agree about K334, I discovered it thanks to someone on this forum a couple of years ago and it's a pleasure to be reminded of it. Two horns no less! I've heard of getting the horn, but getting two horns is outrageous.

What I really want is a recording which uses out of tune natural horns.

OH I SEE WHAT I'VE DONE. I'LL LEAVE IT SO YOU CAN HAVE A LAUGH AT MY EXPENSE.


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## hammeredklavier (Feb 18, 2018)

I don't particularly find it "Haydnesque". (I mean, it's not even monothematic, for one thing. I think there is a Haydnesque feel in the D minor andante from the posthorn serenade, K.320, but not this). I would say K.334 is characteristically Mozartian,
















Mozart often seems to favor this sort of expression in descending chromatically in certain contrapuntal works, including this divertimento. K.262, K.426, K.511 are other good examples:








*[ 3:20 ]*





btw, I like the sense of symmetry of this divertimento:

*1. Allegro (0:01)
2. Tema con variazioni (6:38)
1. Allegro (2:12)
6. Rondo (32:07)*
View attachment 137060


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

*Mozart Divertimento in D Major K334 - "Unknown" Masterpiece.*



PlaySalieri said:


> Nobody ever seems to mention K334 - the divertimento in D major.
> 
> ...


Let me take umbrage: this divertimento is not "unknown". Fortunately.

I admit, I don't ever recall "mentioning" it, the Divertimento K334. But I _have_ listened to it before. And upon seeing this post I was happy to revisit it with the online video of Sandor Vegh leading an ensemble in Salzburg, 1988. Well worth a listen to.






My favorite Mozart work remains the Oboe Quartet in F; to me: quintessential Mozart. That holds Köchel number 370. And what I've discovered in my decades long pursuit of the music of W.A. Mozart is that more often than not I find myself favoring works in the 300s range of Köchel numbers. I would suggest that this band of compositions (the Köchel 300s) proves a rich vein for Mozart mining ears to explore.


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## trazom (Apr 13, 2009)

SONNET CLV said:


> I would suggest that this band of compositions (the Köchel 300s) proves a rich vein for Mozart mining ears to explore.


That range does have a lot of my favorite works that's for sure:

k.304, the e minor violin sonata
k.306 the D major violin sonata
the a minor piano sonata k.310
the 3 great woodwind serenades: k.375,361, and 388
Sinfonia concertante, k.364
violin sonata k.378-380

...the Coronation Mass, the -C major Missa Solemnis k.337, the two Vesper settings, Idomeneo, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Zaide, the Haffner symphony, the rondo in A major for piano and orchestra k.386. Those are all off the top of my head. Did I miss anything? Oh, I forgot k.333, the b-flat sonata. Another nice work, written later than its K number would suggest but that's beside the point.


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## Ras (Oct 6, 2017)

Wilhem Theophilus said:


> Am I allowed to like k136?


Only if you listen to Beethoven's "Grosse Fuge" on repeat non-stop for two months while interned at the Guantanamo camp!


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## PlaySalieri (Jun 3, 2012)

trazom said:


> That range does have a lot of my favorite works that's for sure:
> 
> k.304, the e minor violin sonata
> k.306 the D major violin sonata
> ...


yes true the k300s are great

the k400s list I wont type in - would really look quite formidable by comparison though.


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