thumb|Miniature of Mozart by [[Dora Stock (1789)]]
A Musical Joke () K. 522, (divertimento for two horns in F, and string quartet) is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; he entered it in his Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke (Catalogue of All My Works) on 14 June 1787.
Many commentators have expressed the opinion that the piece's purpose is satirical – that "[its] harmonic and rhythmic gaffes serve to parody the work of incompetent composers".
Mozart himself, however, is not known to have revealed his actual intentions.
English name
The translated title A Musical Joke might be a poor rendering of the German original: Spaß does not necessarily connote the jocular, for which the words Scherz or Witz would more likely be used. A more accurate translation would be Some Musical Fun.
Structure and compositional elements
upright=1.7|thumb|Mozart's exercise in polytonality, last five bars the work<br />[[File:K522 multitonality.mid|thumb|center]]
250px|thumb|upright|Synthesized version of the first movement
The piece consists of four movements that take about 20 minutes in total to perform.
Compositorial comedic devices include:
References
Sources
External links
- , Dennis Brain, Neill Sanders (horn); Manoug Parikian (violin); London Philharmonic Orchestra, Guido Cantelli