Andante in F Major (K616)

Andante in F Major (K616) by W.A. Mozart
Transcribed and Edited for 3 C Flutes and Alto Flute by Karl Kraber
Includes score and parts; includes Bb Clarinet part that can be used in place of Alto Flute

From October 1790 to May 1791, Mozart composed three works for Count Joseph Deym of Vienna, who had a collection of mechanical organs – pipe organs that were powered by a clockwork mechanism, much like a music box. The first two of these, Adagio and Allegro, K594 and Fantasia in f mionor, K608, appear with Mozart's original works for piano four hands and have both been transcribed for woodwind quintet by Wolfgang Sebastian Mayer and Mordechai Rechtman, and for woodwind quartet by Milan Munclinger.

The third, Andante in F Major, K616, which is featured in this edition, was written for a much smaller organ – the lowest note is G below middle C, except for two Fs a step lower. Given its higher tessitura, its pastoral quality, and that it was composed for an organ – a wind instrument itself – this generally four-voice work is well-suited for an ensemble of flutes, or flutes and clarinet. Since the mechanical organ is, like the brontosaurus, extinct, any performance will be a transcription.

This work was previously transcribed by Frans Vester for woodwind quintet and by Walter Goehr for a quartet of flute, oboe, viola and cello – but both of these versions are missing thirty-three measures found in the new Mozart Complete Works.