The ''Adagio and Rondo'', K. 617, is a quintet composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for

glass harmonica The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, oboe, viola and cello. Completed on May 23, 1791 (the date indicated in Mozart's own list of his works), it was written for

Marianne Kirchgessner file:Harmonica 1.jpg, Harmonica 1. Marianne Antonia Kirchgessner, also Mariana Kirchgessner, Kirchgäßner, (5 June 1769 in Bruchsal, Germany, – 9 December 1808), was a German glass harmonica player. She was blind from eye disease caused by smal ...

, a blind glass harmonica

virtuoso A virtuoso (from Italian ''virtuoso'' or , "virtuous", Late Latin ''virtuosus'', Latin ''virtus'', "virtue", "excellence" or "skill") is an individual who possesses outstanding talent and technical ability in a particular art or field such as ...

, who played the first performance in the

Burgtheater The Burgtheater (literally:"Castle Theater" but alternatively translated as "(Imperial) Court Theater"), originally known as '' K.K. Theater an der Burg'', then until 1918 as the ''K.K. Hofburgtheater'', is the national theater of Austria in Vi ...

Akademie on June 10, 1791, and subsequently performed it at the Kärtnertortheater on August 19, 1791. The autograph manuscript is in the British Library as part of the

Stefan Zweig Collection The Stefan Zweig Collection is an important collection of autograph manuscripts formed by the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig. After his death in 1942 his heirs continued to develop the collection, and donated it to the British Library in 1986. The co ...

. It was purchased by Zweig from a Berlin auction house in 1930. The work was first published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1799. The adagio, in C minor, is 58 bars long, while the rondo (C major) contains 230 bars. According to

Willi Apel Willi Apel (10 October 1893 – 14 March 1988) was a German-American musicologist and noted author of a number of books devoted to music. Among his most important publications are the 1944 edition of '' The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' and ''Fre ...

, "Among various compositions for the glass harmonica, Mozart's Adagio in C major (K. 356) and Adagio and Rondo (K. 617)...both composed in 1791, are the most interesting. They seem to require an instrument equipped with a keyboard mechanism such as that constructed in 1784."Apel, Willi (1969). "Glass harmonica",
Harvard Dictionary of Music
', p.347. Harvard. .

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
Zweig MS 61 (digitized manuscript from the British Library)
* {{Authority control Chamber music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Compositions in C minor Compositions in C major 1791 compositions Stefan Zweig Collection