[LFCO] Mozart: A Musical Joke K522

[@MartyMusic777]

I love the jokes in this, because if you look at this piece from the context of the music of its time, it's AWFUL. For those who don't know what to look for: 1. Weird phrase length. Most Classical music uses 4, 8, or 16 bar phrases. The whole thing opens with a 7-bar monster. 2. Chords that come out of nowhere. 3. Accompaniments without a melody. 4. Horn jokes. Back in the day, horns didn't have valves, so players had to use their hands and what were called crooks that they could use to change the instrument length. Joke in the second movement when the horns play WAY out of tune is that someone put in their E-crook on accident and is desparately trying to get close-ish to the right note. Also, those ferociously insane octave trills in the 4th movement that go on far too long. 5. The violin cadenza, where the violinist plays too high, goes out of tune, and breaks a string. 6. That bizzare ending where everything falls completely to pieces. 7. The fugue that tried, but gave up.

[@aminegoubaa4393]

what fugue are you referring to ? :p

[@MartyMusic777]

@@aminegoubaa4393 4th movement, around 16:34. It starts and fails.

[@siavasharya7111]

1-2-3-4-3-4-5? ok

[@MartyMusic777]

@@siavasharya7111 Haha, good catch! Fixed.

[@MartyMusic777]

@Potpourri 1951 *tips hat genially* thank you kindly.

[@JoseCom11]

After listening to what Mozart considered a joke, i felt bad about my compositions.

[@kaycancelled1475]

JoseCom11 same😢😟

[@arsantiqua8741]

same : ^ (

[@Ivan_1791]

Haha. xD

[@Vextrove]

This is the same as when Skrillex makes an epic drop and ruins it on purpose

[@arsantiqua8741]

If Mozart heard Skrillex, Mozart would probably write "A Dubstep joke for Orchestra and butthurt *musicians*"

[@santiagovidal9562]

"I don't get it" -A. Salieri

[@folkosire]

That Salieri bullshit again. He was a widely praised composer and probably didn't care about Wolfgang at all.

[@louisvalencia5244]

@@folkosire You didn´t get the joke either

[@ivan_S16]

@@folkosire WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

[@OonHan]

@folkosire WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

[@JKLpipe]

@@folkosire WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

[@roycezaro1998]

I love all the phrases that go nowhere

[@angelaquino3730]

@@FC35689 Saeliri

[@angelaquino3730]

@@FC35689 lol

[@adrianmedeiros8431]

It's mind boggling. A lot of good melodies and phrases the composition just seems to get bored with and kill halfway. I know it's intentional, but it just goes to show how good Mozart actually was that I'm extremely bothered by it.

[@CanelonVegano]

PLESE quote some examples writting like this: 0:26 (example)

[@steffen5121]

Truly prophetic...

[@mattiaraspadori6420]

0:00 Seven measures-phrase 2:26 Parallel 5ths 5:22 "Wrong crooks" 14:50 Strange Cadenza 16:05 Ten measures-phrase 16:52 "Extreme trill" 16:59 Alleluja from K 165 18:53 "Very extreme trill" 20:12 Polytonality

[@jeikowb]

polytonality*

[@tarikeld11]

8:01 start of a fugue that never continues

[@GUILLOM]

@@tarikeld11 LOL

[@calebhu6383]

Don't forget the hilariously abrupt repeat in the first movement, as well as the use of brass at comically inappropriate moments.

[@gandalfgrey91]

My favorite is definitely the extreme trill

[@timothybonis1614]

15:56 And young Beethoven thought: “let’s use that, but not as a joke and in a minor key”

[@redheadededjedi9519]

OH MY GOSH YOU ARE SO RIGHT!!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA!!!!!!!

[@sophiaseth2769]

LMAOOOOO

[@kaaiplayspiano7200]

Lol

[@bernamej]

Timothy Bonis Hahahah Hahahah

[@kaaiplayspiano7200]

@SteVladherman smh, its Beethoven 5 you should know this

[@Eichro]

Step back Mozart, I can do much worse

[@meowmiao36]

*smashes keyboard*

[@MiorAkif]

Plays mayonnaise in E minor

[@wolfgangamadeusmozart9082]

Wanna fight!!

[@lucaszavaluentie4855]

Yeah!

[@adamnagy1832]

Ironically enough, he can do worse because he knows how ;)

[@jakubledl1602]

I just love how e.g. at 5:23, the score dictates “dolce” for the subsequent horn monstrosity.

[@isaac8093]

Listen, I know that the motif is supposed to be bad, but tbh I kind of like it. There's something about its character I find appealing.

[@GlaceonStudios]

@@isaac8093 Mozart bee like: Ya like jazz?

[@dmitrishostakovich9559]

@Isaac Yeah, it's like a bugle fanfare for some inept duke.

[@Dan474834]

Sounds like Stravinsky.

[@joseleonido3479]

The fact dolce means sweet makes it funnier 😂

[@VenomousBrass]

The pizzicato G at the end of the violin cadenza at 15:38 never fails to make me laugh. It's so out of place, and I LOVE IT!

[@Akumasama]

Twing~

[@danjackson5989]

I wish more pieces would work in a left handed pizz! It's like a rare treat!

[@kaaiplayspiano7200]

Bom

[@poisonfish2176]

I thought it was a string breaking from the violinist playing a pitch so high

[@Keirian_]

Just imagine Mozart laughing maniacally

[@leolunchbox4543]

I feel like those little 10 second bits with the horns being way out of tune should play whenever I enter a room. Like a personal theme song. There's something about it that just resonates with me

[@psychokitty444]

There is just something about this comment that resonates with me.

[@somewhat-blue]

I feel this - that or a recording of the orchestra that swapped instruments before playing Thus Sprach Zarathustra

[@erictseitz]

This comment legit made me laugh out loud. I can relate. It sounds like a march, only the marchers are stumbling over their feet.

[@aksuli1]

That sounds like Shostakovich 😄.

[@timothyser9967]

he uses different methods of torture for each movement. The most subtle of which is the adagio in which he uses the tactic of NEVER ending a phrase, always faking the cadence.

[@BBL.Soldier]

...or those unholy trills

[@kaaiplayspiano7200]

...or those out of tune shit E major horns

[@al4381]

Kind of annoys me when Beethoven does that too.

[@nilsisberg5445]

@@al4381 Yes! Hahaha

[@steffen5121]

@@nilsisberg5445 Later componists seem to have taken this as a blueprint...

[@williamstibbs2955]

Mozart was such a great composer that he was able to write something horrible on purpose so that people actually enjoy it.

[@nirad8026]

@@FC35689 You're welcome, my nigga.

[@gggggggggggggggggg161]

What are you doing here Nazi, the internet is full of foreigners and gays, must be scary to you @@nirad8026 (His profile pic is the sign of a fascist movement in germany) people like you are the only enemy of art and culture.

[@ABAlphaBeta]

@@FC35689 Thanks!

[@Robb1977]

@@musicalmather1160 lots of jews in theater though.

[@lackyjoes4862]

@@FC35689 U are fake

[@Barbapippo]

One learns much more from bad music than from good one.... this horrible masterpiece should be listened and carefully studied in every composition class

[@risvegliato]

totally agree.. when i was studying classical forms at uni 30 yrs ago this would have been very useful, we spent ages studying how to do it right - Mozart showed how to do it wrong. Why were we not shown this piece as students?

[@VenomCold]

@@risvegliato because the sad truth is some people would be sitting there and saying " whats wrong with it " . before you know music theory you will not know its bad because it makes a good impression at first. so you essentially must know the good to apart it from the bad. thats why it wouldnt be enough showing this

[@paulchapman8023]

VenomCold it wouldn’t be enough to show them just this, but it is still useful as a point of reference against good music. I don’t think anyone who heard both this piece and... anything else by Mozart, really, would consider the former good and the latter bad.

[@ruyfaco]

agree

[@jonasgiangrosso5140]

@@VenomColdusic theory aside, if it sounds good at first then isnt it? Perhaps its all these rules that artificially render something as sounding good or bad. If you need to understand theory to know why its bad, then maybe it is stiff rules of theory that narrows what can sound good in music.

[@asdfghyter]

I am playing in an orchestra who end every concert with our version of this piece. It is our "obligatory encore". Among other changes, our version ends with a toilet being smashed along with the music.

[@aichliss]

asdfghyter Mozart would’ve been proud of that stylistic choice, I suspect...

[@presbykimm]

That is awesome

[@louiscouperin3731]

0:00 7-bar phrase 2:26 Parallel 5ths 5:23 Horn joke (wrong crook) 14:52 Strange violin cadenza 15:06 An accompaniment that is not accompaning anything 15:35 Whole-tone scale 15:38 d’’’ (D6) Ridiculously high note 15:39 String breaking/violinist loses track of intonation (pizzicato g) 15:40 Weird violin trill (d’-f’-d’-f’-d’-f’-d’-f’-d’-c’-d’) 16:06 10-bar phrase 16:54 Extreme horn trill 17:00 Alleluia K.165 18:55 Very extreme horn trill 20:23 Completely atonal polichordal finale ( B-flat E-flat A G F )

[@pablodesarasate499]

i was wondering why 15:35 sounded so strangev

[@Aa-nk8qb]

@louiscouperin3731 The 10-bar phrase at the last movement is absolutely amazing. It gives a sense of fresh surprise

[@gwylock1]

I'm simultaneously enjoying this and occasionally pulling my hair out in frustration, because this superficially sounds fine, but is subtly crawling under my skin and causing me extreme mental pain AAARGH

[@CorpseTongji]

if u told me this was a really good and well respected classical piece i wouldnt b able to argue otherwise

[@adorno_gang37]

Same here though there are a few parts where it's really obvious, i actually laughed around 15:37

[@classicalmusiclover4029]

BeginPanicAttack Listen to the ending.

[@ExplosiveBrohoof]

Yeah, honestly, most of this sounded to me like a typical Mozart piece.

[@paulcaswell2813]

Not to mention the cadenza - that ends up with the soloist having a (pizz) broken string. Genius!

[@lunchbox7440]

and it is ! .. that’s the joke x

[@KrisKeyes]

This piece is good for analyzing what bad theory is.

[@rhysf.505]

Bad theory isn't really a thing, but certainly if you're trying to capture the tropes of the 18th century this is a case study in what not to do.

[@xxczerxx]

This is one very sophisticated joke. If someone told me this piece was an all-time great I'd believe them

[@HAEngel-cr5gp]

Only Mozart could compose something so perfectly imperfect -perfectly. When I hear this piece, I can hear him laugh and giggle. What would our world be like without his remarkable genius? Thank you tnsnamesoralong!

[@fload46d]

His is the pure music that resonates with our minds and hearts. No one before him or since him comes close to him.

[@JakeSandersonMusic]

Absolutely hilarious. I can just imagine the audience back then listening to this. Patron 1: "Wow, this is pretty bad." Patron 2: "No, no, no. It's supposed to be bad."

[@miwosh1289]

Many people in the comments have pointed out many of the jokes already, but one I haven’t seen mentioned so much is how he introduces melodies, and then repeats them with really awkward attempts at variations (for example with triplets). It ends up sounding extremely amateurish and I love it. There’s also the really out-of-place thing in the trio that sounds like the beginning of a fugue and well, goes absolutely nowhere (just like many other things in this piece).

[@okb0ss336]

i agree, as well as in moments like 1:57 where the closing theme is played in the minor (seemingly for no reason), but already in the next bar is back to major

[@rafexrafexowski4754]

This piece feels very sectional for me, especially at the beginning, like the composer Mozart was imitating thought that he had to introduce something new every few bars instead of developing what's already there or making the sections longer. Hence we get the two bar viola solo that's barely hearable, or the trill in the second violins that's there for no reason. I feel like this is enhanced by there being no "cooperation" between voices - the viola solo is played along with loud, high grace notes and the long trill is played along with an "accompaniment?" and without a melody. That's what makes it sound so awkward

[@tnsnamesoralong]

00:00 Allegro 04:39 Menuetto: Maestoso; Trio 10:27 Adagio Cantabile 16:05 Presto

[@dnalby233]

Grazie Graziella e grazie al cazzo

[@DeadnWoon]

Honestly, did not laugh at all. Haven't understood a drop of humour. But thank you, anyway! :-)

[@grantwoolard7685]

This is a very long-winded joke.

[@titanic45studios]

*Long-stringed

[@charrotoad6850]

The only longer-winded joke is K.231

[@tnsnamesoralong]

@Charro Toad: Thanks for information. I didn't know this fantastic Mozart-canon.

[@mate_on_f7916]

WINDed:)

[@memeuless]

Grant Woolard still waiting for the punchline

[@bust2death]

For the first time I hear an awful piece that sounded so nice Mozart is so genius

[@alvaromunozjoy3389]

a true meme, full of irony

[@dorflerstrad3927]

how many layers of irony

[@3uujh656]

dorfler strad I count about 578 but it could be more

[@Robb1977]

It's a fantastic example of a joke. It's not just bad on purpose, it breaks conventions and subverts expectations in the same way a joke would, yet is still enjoyable. Awesome

[@RobertoLorenzPianist]

I'm German, and "Ein musikalischer Spaß" doesn't really mean "A musical joke" (that would be "Ein musikalischer Scherz/ Streich/ Witz"). Spaß is just "fun". So a more accurate translation would be "Some Musical Fun" - so it's less a cynical prank than just a cheerful moment of unrestrained craziness and badness .

[@presbykimm]

This makes this piece even more hilarious

[@dan7893]

Vielleicht hat man sich bei der Übersetzung "einen Spaß erlaubt".... Das Wort "Spaß" kann im Deutschen durchaus die Bedeutungsdimension von Streich einnehmen. (The german word is an ambiguus word: it can be used to indicate having fun, but also mean joke).

[@btat16]

It’s basically an 18th century meme

[@FantadiRienzo]

250 years ago _even_ in German words had a different meaning. You can not translate "Spaß" with fun. In this context Mozart clearly means joke.

[@slf1239]

I don't agree about the point of that song. It was made to show everything you should not do as a composer, yet it is not unpleasent to hear

[@robinmoritz9163]

9:49 to 9:55 Deep down he knew it was sweet

[@Logan-qi4nx]

Those are j a z z chords. That part reminds me of Harry Potter for some reason.

[@kaaiplayspiano7200]

@@Logan-qi4nx it sound good though

[@poisonfish2176]

It’s slightly reminds me of the 20th Century Fox thing at the start of movies

[@segmentsAndCurves]

@@Logan-qi4nx JaZz!

[@co2_os]

@@Logan-qi4nx you like jazz? 🐝

[@DoomKid]

The joke here is that this piece is deliberately trying too hard to sound regal, essentially. It’s combining the most overused cliches of 18th century music all into one big piece that is pretty sloppily written. The joke isn’t that it sounds awful (though a few small bits do deliberately sound bad for the lulz) the joke is more that the piece is one big cliche that lacks any subtlety whatsoever, not to mention features some deliberately unresolved sections that leave the listener displeased with the lack of a “proper ending”. It’s not meant to be unlistenable, that’s not the point. I didn’t get it at first either, by the way! Understandably, since we’re not inundated with classical music these days, the overt cliches are lost on modern listeners, including myself until it was spelled out for me.

[@lukeparnell5572]

hate to break it to you but you’re still missing the joke(s)

[@SharkTurd11]

@@lukeparnell5572 these pretenders lmao

[@iks.7048]

I mean, they are plenty more cliches of 18th century music that are not in here. And quite a bit of it just sounds bad.

[@BenEmberley]

I think the last three bars was when Mozart actually died.....

[@yergaderga]

I thought he died writing the requiem. Or was he also writing this at the time?

[@BenEmberley]

Joke, buddy. Joke! :P

[@LeOssiTrollterrible]

yergaderga thats just hamann

[@technichy3633]

yergaderga i think he meant died as in dying of laughter

[@laurenauburnsol]

Ben Emberley good one haha

[@tomfroekjaer]

Wikipedia: "The music is intentionally written to be funny, being liberally sprinkled with obtrusively clumsy, mechanical and over-repetitive composition, together with passages evidently designed to mimic the effects of inaccurate notation and inept performance. Commentators have opined that the piece's purpose is satirical-that "[its] harmonic and rhythmic gaffes serve to parody the work of incompetent composers"[1] - though Mozart himself is not known to have revealed his actual intentions."

[@graysonguo9938]

As someone who's listened to too much Romantic and 20th century Classical music, I couldn't find anything weird.

[@needtoknowbasis3499]

That's ridiculous. Mozart put baking soda in your soup, and you mean to say you don't taste it?

[@ivoryrick7734]

@@needtoknowbasis3499 this has to be the funniest and most perfect retort

[@Teemu_TV]

I actually really like the horns at 5:23 That melody was ringing in my head one day and I tried to remember which piece was it and I was thinking of Ravel's works lol.

[@MattWeisherComposer]

I like that, too. It's almost Shostakovich-like. :)

[@felixmarques]

It's fantastic. It reminds me of Joe Hisaishi-it wouldn't be out of place during a city scene in “Howl's Moving Castle”.

[@averagemusicenjoyer]

Ravel ? Buy new ears pls, way more like Chostakovitch

[@ChristianJiang]

The final part is where a Schoenberg's piece starts...

[@asiul65]

Probably ;)

[@ternitamas]

what Mozart used as an example of "bad music"

[@sheldonbazinga3985]

Mozart faisant volontairement exprès de mal faire ne parvient pas à être aussi mauvais que certains de ses concurrents tâchant de bien faire. Je suis persuadé qu'en bon prussien il aimait à rire à ce genre de farces, mais je me prends à regretter qu'il n'ait pas plutôt songé à terminer quelques unes des innombrables compositions qu'il a laissé inachevées.

[@Ivan_1791]

What opus is it?

[@segmentsAndCurves]

@@ternitamas There's no "bad musik".

[@DJKLProductions]

Mozart wanted to tease composers and musicians of his time. He has done it with this musical work. Here fail both the musicians and the conductor, as well as the composer. The Misfortune of the musicians is with strong dissonances and badly acted scales (whole tone scales). The fictional composer is teased by setting wrong harmony or harmonies that until now were completely new and futuristic. In particular, these harmonies that time were a thorn in the side respectively in the ear, but today this is no longer so, as we are used by the romance and contemporary music, many of these harmonies. If you listen closely and have a little knowledge, then you realize, oops, that does not belong to the classical. Considering that the song is bad, it's still a masterpiece.

[@jiaxinhe6713]

It's not that bad... Pretty good I mean that we can't write it so we shouldn't really say its bad...

[@TheRealPaulCaplin]

Joshua He I think anyone who can write music could write something as bad as that. It's Mozart's joke about what awful music sounds like, and it's a good joke. It sounds awful. Like it was written by a moron.

[@jiaxinhe6713]

ha ok then whatever you say

[@joaquinmarambiofuentes53]

Joshua He Looks when the horns drop down, in a disonance modulation its a mockery -a joke, good one, becouse sounds perfect-. 5:18. Or the cadenza in the minuet, is obviously awfull. Simple and overacted (look the end disonnace) 14:52. And about the music in self, sounds good, but is like a remix, copy and pasted in the other instrument, the same over and over. pd: not to good english.

[@jiaxinhe6713]

ok?

[@blackefeltsch7459]

As someone who knows no music theory, this sounds as beautiful and exciting as any other piece of classical music.

[@dannyadityaa3140]

Same.

[@goeuldi]

except for the obvious no-nos like the ending xD

[@needtoknowbasis3499]

You don't need music theory to sense something's off.

[@erictseitz]

16:43 Strings: "here we go!!" Horns: ".....ehhh..." Strings: "..ok forget it"

[@roycezaro1998]

15:05 LOL wrong century ;)

[@beabolonyi]

Royce Zaro haha, why are you saying that?

[@roycezaro1998]

***** Common baroque motif. He really did try to screw up in all ways possible haha

[@polar3849]

Hey Royce Zaro, I'm not that into Baroque music - tense I only know this motif from Vivaldi's 4 Seasons. Does it occur in other pieces too and can you please name a few :)? Thanks, I hope you're still areound @ytube ^^

[@roycezaro1998]

Are you talking about at 15:05?

[@TobiasM1K]

@@polar3849 The motif he mentioned is called an Alberti Bass Pattern because Alberti (a Baroque composer) used it a lot, though he didn't invent it and because it's used in the bass clef. It's used over many periods of music and you can learn more about it from this video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bIDdamtuhrFrmLc

[@keithkolander6246]

The last 3 bars are hilarious - all playing in different keys. I'm sure he laughed when he wrote that.

[@thetickedoffpianoplayer4193]

And now we have modern classical music that does it on purpose.

[@venitabanerjee]

Mozart the composer had a Starling bird he kept for three years, and was very impressed with its ability to sing along with him playing and composing, when it died, he gave it a full funeral and dedicated a piece to the bird called 'A musical joke'.

[@Sunnythecat_098]

Wait what is that true? Pls reply lol I'm a classical music "fact collector" and this sound's hilarious to know

[@robinmoritz9163]

A few thoughts : 17:25 to 17:30 - Steve Reich 17:36 - Beethoven, Pastorale

[@gabrielhoshino4145]

A twenty minute long joke?

[@hasch5756]

You may find that odd, but remember that Wagner wrote an 18-hour long joke about how greedy a dwarf was

[@BBL.Soldier]

Not a single joke, more of a suicidal comedian reading his personal joke diary while slowly dying

[@PragmaticAntithesis]

The highest effort shitpost.

[@roycezaro1998]

Never compose after a lesson on prime numbers. PHRASES PHRASES PHRASES!!!!!

[@_Athanos]

17:09 - 17:17 This bit actually sound really good. Even in pieces meant as a joke, Mozart somehow finds a way to make some beautiful music out of it.

[@pablodesarasate499]

yes it does

[@franceskinskij]

the 3rd movement actually has moments sounding good, but they're not connected to eachother

[@blastromlifyedah]

20:22 When you are about to screw up your performance but you are at the point where you're suppose to finish so you continue anyway

[@danbrooks2757]

I wonder if the musicians were able to get through this with a straight face.

[@puns9995]

Dan Brooks nah

[@dedooske3575]

Nope

[@dirkhonders2009]

6:07 gives a Shostakovich feel.

[@yw9340]

Dirk Honders yes!

[@juliee593]

Huh. I didn't notice it at first but you're right!

[@fabricebradder9857]

Love the three last chords, it's pure polytonality. Eb + A + G + F by the French Horns! And this in late 18th century! I can't imagine the reactions of the audience at the end of this piece.

[@chloewu0211]

This is the easiest way to trigger and not trigger musicians at the same time and it’s hilarious and the fact that to the musically untrained ear, it still sounds decent. Mozart really is a genius

[@PrismaPog_17]

He made imperfect, sound perfect. My favorite is the ending. Its not perfect, but Its perfect!

[@robertmcqueen289]

Bless Herr Mozart having fun. Can you imagine back in his day if a noble person had requested a piece of music from Mozart, and mistaken heard this in passing, and thought it was their work. Mozart had to wait to the 20th century to get this piece recognised in the mainstream, when the last movement became a theme tune to a BBC show about equestrian sport. Great score. Thank you for posting it. 🐎🐴🐴

[@Sinfaroth]

I am an engineers student i have not the slightest idea of classical music apart from school education and some other things I heard. To me it seems the piece is falling apart more and more every minute which I really like, maybe it was just too subtle in the beginning to hear for a layman. There were some parts I really had to laugh at, for example when the violin is playing a melodie and the horn is supposed to complete it and fails miserably at 18:38 . The concept itself is wierd to me a horn playing a duett with a violin and toping it of like this pure genius.

[@franceskinskij]

that's not a miscompletion, it's just the horn's response to the violin

[@needtoknowbasis3499]

Exactly. You don't so much as need music theory as you do a sense of taste and sense. There were plenty of melodic figures that were not suitable for a horn player. They were quite ambitious and definitely did not stay in their lane.

[@danielw9542]

"That doesn't really work does it?" "Would you try..."

[@newgeorge]

There are moments in Beethoven where you have to laugh. Haydn also, but this piece really takes the biscuit. I was thinking what fun it would be to hear this piece played at a concert and see whether the audience would really laugh or just sit in excruciated embarrassment.

[@TuriyanGold]

Vivaldi's La noche third movement for the recorder. I literally crapped myself.

[@al4381]

Turiyan Gold literally? Wow. Now I have to listen to that movement

[@JT29501]

Turiyan Gold RV 439? Is that meant to be a joke too? It seems quite bad but it almost makes me wonder if Vivaldi was experimenting a bit, the piece is already in 6 movements which is very weird for a flute concerto of that time.. I am quite split on Vivaldi. On one hand he did write some music which is actually pretty nice, on the other hand he wrote a lot which is very lacking in invention and boring.

[@newgeorge]

the poor guys in the Baroque really had to churn it out. No time to wait for inspiration.

[@jmitterii2]

The violin solo ending has me laugh out loud every time. I think it was intended or at least it does sound like the string broke. PLUNK!

[@kvnjng]

Still better than the whole Billboard chart of modern pop music...

[@archcorenth]

I think it's interesting how some of the things, which are meant to sound so bad you laugh in Mozart's mean things to modern ears, because later composers have used them to give different feelings to their listeners.

[@archcorenth]

I mean some of the things like those trills in the last movement are still just ugly.

[@Roescoe]

@@archcorenth The viola trills sound pretty silly, also the horns overall are playing silly stuff.

[@paulcaswell2813]

The 'wrong crook' gag was brilliantly pulled off LOL!

[@juliee593]

Right? The dissonance at the very end sounds just like something Stravinsky would have done

[@ChristianBurrola]

​@@Roescoe The viola trills don't sound silly, they remind me of Barry White. And the horns remind me of Shostakovich. This is actually one of the only pieces of Mozart I thoroughly enjoy.

[@taos2824]

"...the interpretation is a masterpiece of musical analysis..the manuscript was completed two weeks after the news of this father's death...He must have been following some inner need when writing the Spass, for he cannot have had a commission for it...It is improbable that the Spass was ever performed during Mozart's time. It was simply something for his own enjoyment..."-W. Hildesheimer

[@Jorge_Ramirez584]

Here is the work of a man who, thinking he was joking, was actually announcing what was to come later on...

[@elias69420]

The 7-bar-long main theme in the beginning of the 1st movement was supposed to sound unusual for the listener of the Classical era, but here we are in the 21st century, and, at least to my Romantic-era ear, it sounds... strangely normal?

[@sterbus79]

Yes, it really sounds normal, now :)

[@segmentsAndCurves]

How taste has change :)

[@steffen5121]

@@segmentsAndCurves And most of all: how rules have dissolved... To never be properly replaced by an equally pleasing set of rules again... Sad

[@segmentsAndCurves]

@@steffen5121 Good. Now cry louder.

[@steffen5121]

@@segmentsAndCurves I ain't crying bro. Maybe a bit.

[@Shine-kg9vk]

16:34 love the bass solo

[@pomatomapo]

Lol it's a failed fugue I didn't notice

[@johndongen5636]

i am a master musician, and can safely say that 15:38 is the best part!

[@JJBerthume]

***** I'm sure he was joking. :)

[@estoniaman]

JJay Berthume Actually I agree with him (even though he may not have been serious). At first I thought that violinist broke the string. Neatly done note.

[@CruelLion7]

are you better than ray chan?

[@arsantiqua8741]

I imagined Mozart pooping and laughing while the trill accompanies him.

[@jimfowler5930]

Splendid work, and, performance! Vielen Dank, ich hab' alles genoßen!!

[@TheGreatRepertoire]

The earliest known use of polytonality!

[@markusboyd4834]

Although shown in a negative light...

[@Jaydoggy531]

There are earlier uses, even full-out atonality. Just not as common. Mozart's probably the most well-known though in the earlier repertoire.

[@wisdomleader85]

Fits the line in "Amadeus" properly: "the rest is just the same, isn't it?"

[@emmaaxelson7821]

There are earlier examples, such as Battalia a 10. kzbin.info/www/bejne/a4qlgKCdnpKkidU

[@ternitamas]

as a "joke" he was a very joking man, to me it is totally farfetched to call it polytonal, it is labeled as polytonal by today's scholars, but Mozart was just having fun. Let's say that he was aware of a tonal clash concept and used it for effect

[@112steinway]

I like to think that this piece of music tells the story a group of musicians who slowly go insane after being forced to play a piece of music given to them by a self absorbed composer who thinks he knows everything when he clearly has no idea what he's doing.

[@tnsnamesoralong]

Good point :)

[@celsius82]

Besides the really boring passages and making fun of his time's cliches, there are a couple of "jokes" with harmony and chord changes that are actually innovative from today's perspective and sound somewhat modern. Of course the whole thing does not have any interesting musical content besides of making fun of music....but what would he think of what music has become today?

[@edderiofer]

What, like "BAD, DEFACED CABBAGE-FACE DAD" or "Piano is not my forte"?

[@LG-xt8bj]

Cristián Varas This says much about today's music.

[@Samastano]

That horn amuses me.

[@lordrafox1072]

If this is a musical joke, then my compositions are a musical 5 hour stand up comedy gig

[@buba4267]

16:07: this was used on Top Gear.

[@applejuice5272]

Horse of the Year theme / The Irresistible Clapping Machine

[@MrPSaun]

This is actually painful to get through. It's 20 minutes of music that goes absolutely nowhere...

[@crapbag247]

You just described life.

[@martinshewfelt1236]

Nah, it's good

[@junhong3786]

Mozart pranked before it was cool.

[@Mick_92]

Man, people have been doing pranks for as long as there have been people. We just don't tend to think much of old timey people being funny or having much of a sense of humor, but they sure did.

[@antonioluciovivaldi4531]

No, Haydn did

[@rohinkartik-narayan7535]

I love how from today's perspective, the only things that are questionable are some weird horn intervals in the 2nd movement, horn trills in the 4th movement, and the weird ending. And even then, they're at most just a bit weird. Even stuff like the 7-bar opening phrase is kinda "whatever". I barely noticed and I'm a musician (oboe gang rise up). But from a modern perspective there isn't really much "weird" about this

[@spenspen3]

I actually did laugh at the cadence at the end. This is really funny

[@casperorillian7393]

This is what got me interested in classical music. Never really considered that there could be a sense of humour in this type of music.

[@bmh4d0k3n]

The violin cadenza just kills me every time.

[@dukeofcurls3183]

if you had played me this piece and it didn't have the obvious parts where Mozart is fucking around (5:23, 15:34, 20:23) i would have just assumed it was a totally genuine B-tier Mozart or Haydn piece or something from a random classical-period composer

[@joernbroeker]

One has to be an absolute genius to compose such an absolutely dilettantic work on purpose. If you know some music theory you will notice how funny and good it actually is.

[@katiefrisk980]

17:18 ahh yes those four chords

[@wolframsteindl2712]

Mozart composed it as a joke, but it ended up containing a lot of things that I actually enjoy, like the 7-measure phrases, or the dissonance in the horns from using the wrong crooks (I really enjoy the contrast it gives). Of course, it does still contain a plethora of things that to this day sound amateurish and bad.

[@SCWood]

Even Mozart's shitposting sounds good.

[@Darkserpentes]

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" - Mozart when he finished the piece.

[@ChristianJiang]

15:39 This pizzicato represents a string breaking lol

[@jmitterii2]

15:09 violin solo that ends with a plunk got me. :)

[@alguiennanimo2135]

That final cadenza sounds better than most ultra contemporary music (sorry buddies)

[@TheModicaLiszt]

Wrong

[@LeoPurich]

Also, another interesting and somewhat related fact is that Mozart composed "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik", one of the most joyful pieces he ever wrote, shortly after the death of his father.

[@PickleToothpaste]

This is still nicer for mood than funeral marches and pieces reflecting of relatives death, personal health problemd etc.

[@ccc61371]

Even though it's a joke and an example for bad music writing, I find it still beautiful at times The Menuetto between 07:04 - 10:20 even reminded me at times the last movement of Beethoven's 6 symphony... lol :) Mozart is the best!!!

[@NeminemMashups]

15:35 is *awesome*. Just learned about this piece, and had to listen to it all the way through. It is true that I don't get a lot of the jokes, not being a classical music guru, just an appreciator - a lot of it just sounds boring and repetitive, which I gather was part of the "prank" too, but the dissonant bits, and the bits that suddenly veer off unexpectedly... those are totally fantastic. I know at the time they would've been like "wtf that is just bad", now it's more like "wtf he could see the future". Would be fun if someone made a whole piece of music in that style specifically (if Mozart had studied jazz). Maybe someone has already? If so, I'd like to hear it. :D

[@tarikeld11]

I love the joke at 8:01 where you expect a fugue but it just stops!

[@Logan-qi4nx]

This piece of music radiates chaotic energy. 16:34 is so ridiculous. That part and the obnoxiously long horn trill are so mischievous. 20:23 is a really amusing ending

[@theletterwynn]

How to make it more funny: every musician makes faces while they play, and the hornists like they're about the pass out.

[@BydysawdBaroque]

Pulling funny faces for 20 minutes straight? The instruments may fly out of their hands, knocking the person in front of them on the head long before then.

[@theletterwynn]

I don't mean for the whole 20 minutes. But it would nonetheless be funny if that happened :D

[@BydysawdBaroque]

You're right about that! One might even try to hold back a laugh. Good ol' Mozart! He sure does enjoy a sense of humour.

[@BrognorLightbringer]

Renji Mao I'm a hornist and I confirm this, lol

[@ShaunakDesaiPiano]

I love how Mozart trying to be wrong often sounds like what a lot of 20th century composers get up to. For instance I wouldn’t bat an eye at the horn joke if it were a 20th century piece.

[@kaitsith3081]

but I like it...

[@emestella_]

A good joke is always pleasing :D

[@sxturnx_8767]

@@emestella_ imagine all they did in that span of 5 years when you finally posted 5 years later

[@emestella_]

@@sxturnx_8767 Imagine all I did in 4 months when you finally answered me 4 months later

[@sxturnx_8767]

@@emestella_ alL i dId In tHoSe MiniTeS uNTiL yOu rEpLiEd

[@emestella_]

@@sxturnx_8767 aLl I dId dUrInG ThEsE sEcOnDs FiGhTiN wItH mY pHoNe To GeT tHiS rEsUlT oN sCrEeN

[@ailurophile4341]

I can't read music I have little to no experience to music I don't know what notes is wrong I don't know what's wrong with the piece and it sounds good even knowing there should be something wrong there

[@ailurophile4341]

oh shit I get it it's in the ending LMAO

[@Nlyoungblood1]

Throughout the piece you will basically notice that it is very disconnected as if we can imagine someone is playing a whole bunch of random song pieces placed together in a startling way that is very noticeable and unsettling. He was using the piece to basically be a smartass.

[@dimitri1cantemir]

I LOVE the way he treats the two horns at 20:09, he gives them the theme, but they can't develop it because the piece is about to finish!

[@JAOrtizCompositor]

20:23 *the best part.*

[@matteovasta5952]

La LFCO “ stona” in modo così naturale che questo pezzo è un capolavoro di un musicista straordinario e “ giocherellone “.

[@neezamdaud4029]

This was meant to be joke remember. It is Mozart's Genius

[@ango5519]

I like Mozart very much but I hadn't listened to this whole piece of music before. I just knew the "Presto". With the sheet music is even more enjoyable. Thank you very much.

[@PickleToothpaste]

This is a masterpiece. Obviously not in a technical way, it sounds like it's from Tom and Jerry but that's the point. A fun uplifting piece