Mozart, Divertimento, K188

Mozart's Divertimento in C major, K188/240b, was composed in Salzburg in 1773. As was the case in K186, the instrumentation is unusual: 2 flutes, 5 trumpets, and timpani. See incipits for each of the six movements below. Here are Neal Zaslaw's characterizations of the several movements: "The divertimento’s opening Andante is a stately intrada, the following Allegro a kind of diminutive sonata movement. The third and fifth movements, old-fashioned minuets without trios, frame an Andante in which Alberti-bass figurations from the flutes give the effect of an enlarged hurdy-gurdy, with a giant organ-grinder turning the crank. A brilliantly orchestrated gavotte serves as the brief Finale" (Zaslaw 1990, 240). The two menuets are of interest to us here.

The final four bars of the first strain (continuation in an antecedent + continuation theme) produce a cadence in the dominant key, with a "plain as day" ascending line in the first flute, reinforced at the end by the first trumpet. The entire construction is transposed to the tonic key to end the second strain. See circled notes in both cases.

In the second menuet, another antecedent + continuation theme begins, with another rising line, this time even more vigorously pursued by the first trumpet than by the first flute. The entirety of the theme is repeated in reprise to close the second strain. Because ^8 and its registral environment are prominent, I regard this as a "mirror Urlinie": ^8-^7-^5/^5-^6-^7-^8.

Reference: Neal Zaslaw and William Cowdery, eds. 1990. The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. New York: W. W. Norton.