Mozart often travelled on long tours around Europe as a child prodigy along with his father. Among these tours, three great tours to Italy. Centered around Milan, the first lasted 15 months 1769-1771, the second was in the fall of 1771 and the third 1772-1773.

Divertimento No. 1 was composed in Milan in November 1771, shortly after the opera “Ascanio in Alba”, by the then only 15-year-old Mozart during his second Italian tour. The Divertimento was probably premiered at a concert on November 22^nd or 23^rd in Milan.

There exists two versions of this work from Mozart’s own hand. Both have the same string parts, but the wind instrumentation is quite different in each version. Probably as a way to have the work played by another orchestra with a larger wind section. This was true to the spirit of the age with many versions (or arrangements) of the same work and it was very prevalent for the Harmonie Musik, the big wind ensembles.

Carion have followed up on this tradition and their horn player, David M.A.P. Palmquist, have arranged Divertimento No. 1 for wind quintet.

Mozart rejste allerede i sin barneår ofte på lange turneer rundt omkring i Europa med sin fader, herunder tre store ture til Italien. De gik hovedsagligt til Milano; den første 15 måneder 1769-1771, den anden i efteråret 1771 og den tredje 1772-1773.

Divertimento Nr. 1 er komponeret i Milano i november 1771, kort efter operaen ”Ascanio in Alba”, af den kun 15-årige Mozart under den anden Italienstur. Divertimentoet blev formodentlig uropført 22. eller 23. november i Milano.

Der findes to versioner af dette værk fra Mozarts hånd.  Begge har de samme stryger stemmer, men blæser besætningen er forskellige i hver version. Formodentlig for at værket har kunnet spilles af andre orkestre med flere blæsere. Mozart var altså helt i tidens ånd med forskellige versioner (eller arrangementer) af sin musik og denne tradition var særlig stærk indenfor Harmoniemusikken, altså de store blæserensembler.

Carion har fulgt op på traditionen og deres hornist, David M.A.P. Palmquist, har arrangeret Divertimento Nr. 1 for blæserkvintet.

This edition is scored for Wind Quintet:

Flute
Oboe
Clarinet in Bb
Horn in F
Bassoon