(It.: ‘nocturnal’).
Term used in the 18th century mainly for works performed outdoors, not in the evening but at night (generally around 11 p.m.). In Salzburg Mozart used the term as the title of his Serenata notturna k239 for double orchestra and his Notturno k286/269a for four orchestras: Hausswald suggested that he preferred this term for works elaborately scored, using ‘Nachtmusik’ for simpler ones (such as the Trio k266/271f and Eine kleine Nachtmusik k525; see Nachtmusik). The form is related to the Serenade, as the style and sequence of movements in k239 and 286 make clear. Mozart later applied the term to vocal works, the notturni for three voices and wind instruments (k436–9, 346/439a (incomplete) and perhaps 549). For Michael Haydn, on the other hand, the title signified a soloistic work; his two string quintets of 1773 (st187/p108 and st189/p109) are both authentically called ‘Notturno’.
Although Haydn’s eight notturni of 1790 in two to four movements (hII:25*–32*), originally written for the King of Naples and later arranged for the London concerts which he organized with J.P. Salomon, should possibly be considered orchestral pieces, they are chamber-like in character; set for solo instruments, the notturno became popular among composers of southern Germany, Austria, Bohemia, northern Italy and Paris (including Boccherini, Bonnay, Johann Brandl, Camerloher, Ferrari, Ignaz Fränzl, Gyrowetz, Michael Haydn, Holzbauer, Kammel, Kirmayer, Kreubé, Maschek, M.L. Neubauer, Paluselli, Piombanti, Polz, Pugnani, G.B. Sammartini, Vanhal, Anton Wranitzky). Chamber works bearing the title ‘notturno’ either had more than five movements, like the serenade, or two to four movements, like the Divertimento. In England the term usually signified a two-movement work, the first in moderate tempo (often in march rhythm), the second a slow minuet (for example J.C. Bach’s Six Trios or Notturnos for two violins and viola or bass, op.2 (recte op.4), c1765).
The later Nocturne for solo piano had no direct connection with the notturno.
H. Hoffmann: ‘Über die Mozartschen Serenaden und Divertimenti’, Mozart-Jb 1929, 59–80
G. Hausswald: Mozarts Serenaden (Leipzig, 1951/R)
C. Bär: ‘Zum Begriff des “Basso” in Mozarts Serenaden’, MJb 1960–61, 133–55
R. Hess: Serenade, Cassation, Notturno und Divertimento bei Michael Haydn (diss., U. of Mainz, 1963)
Gesellschaftsgebundene instrumentale Unterhaltungsmusik des 18. Jahrhunderts: Eichstätt 1988
HUBERT UNVERRICHT/CLIFF EISEN