A Musical Joke

A Musical Joke (German: Ein musikalischer Spaß) 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.

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.

The beginning of the fourth movement is well-known in Britain as the theme tune to the BBC's television coverage of the Horse of the Year Show.

[2][3] The title A Musical Joke might be a poor rendering of the German original: Spaß does not necessarily connote the jocular, for which the word Scherz would more likely be used.

[3][4] The sometimes-mentioned nicknames Dorfmusikantensextett ("village musicians' sextet") and Bauernsinfonie ("farmers' symphony") were added after Mozart's death; these names ridicule the players more than inept composers.