Mozart's Divertimento in D Major is one of 12 Classical pieces for intermediate string ensemble included in Richard Young's Comprehensive String Pedagogy & Curriculum. A portion of the proceeds of sales for all CSPC music goes to support free music education at The People's Music School.

There are many reasons why this piece is an appropriate choice. First of all, it was composed when Mozart was only 16 years old, which is around the same age as many of the students who will play it. Secondly, it is quite challenging, despite its lighthearted character and unthreatening appearance on paper. While it is true that many Romantic pieces have technical demands that are equally challenging, the textures in the Classical period make even the slightest flaws quite noticeable. As the great boxer, Joe Lewis, once said: "You can run, but you can't hide." Moreover the Classical style demands that everything sound easy, buoyant, and transparent, even in passages that are loud and dramatic. The Polish poet, Wislawa Szymborska, wrote the following: "I borrow weighty words, then labor heavily so that they may seem light."* Our role as musicians is similar. But rather than language, we use our instruments. We take temporary custody of profound masterpieces, then work incredibly hard so that they may sound effortless, particularly with Classical pieces like this one.
 It is important to remember that Mozart did not write many dynamic markings at this point in his career. Therefore it is not so surprising to see only forte and piano indications in this Divertimento. But these markings should not be interpreted the same as forte and piano notations in Romantic or 20th century music. First of all, the string instruments in use more than two centuries ago were not capable of such extremes. In Mozart's time, the bridges and bass bars were radically different, and instead of tuning to A-440, the pitch was A-420 or less. All of these factors contributed to far less tension on the instruments, which made it impractical to play forte with anywhere near the volume that is possible today. In addition we now have synthetic strings that not only enable our instruments to play louder, but also allow players to control a much softer tone.
 -Richard Young

Full program notes are included with the score. There are fingerings and bowings in all the string parts of every one of CSPC's pieces. These "cooked-in" technical solutions target the particular levels of the students. They are not just pragmatic but "musical."

Please note that due to a loss of source files, the PDF files of the music have been generated from scanned copies of printed parts. While every effort has been made to produce high quality parts, the limitations of scanning will result in some degradation of print quality.