Divertimento
for flute, oboe, two clarinets, trumpet, two horns and bassoon, Op.22 (also for small orchestra = Op. 22a), (1924)

Intrata, Pagliazzo, Cavatine, Intermezzo grazioso, Pifferari
(Orchestra) 1,1,1,1; 2,1,0,0; Str
Duration: 25'
First published by F.E.C. Leuckart, Leipzig, 1925
Available from Maecenas music: score and parts in print
(Op. 22a available privately)

First performance: Kiel (Tonkünstlerfest), Jun. 1925

Other performances (selection):

Breslau, Jan. 1926
Breslau Radio, Nov. 1928, Apr. 1930
Rudolf Siegel, Krefeld, Jan. 1929
Vienna Radio, Jul. 1929
Sedlak-Winter-Quartett, Vienna, Nov. 1929
Rettich, Leipzig Radio, Nov. 1930
Members of the Städtisches Orchester, Mainz, Feb. 1931
Philharmonisches Orchester Stuttgart, Stuttgart Radio, Nov. 1931
Mainz, Nov. 1932
BBC Empire Orchestra/Fogg, BBC Radio, Aug. 1938
London Wind Players, BBC Radio, Dec. 1958
Birmingham Wind Ensemble, BBC Radio, Jun. 1959
London Wind Players/Blech, BBC Radio, Mar. 1960
Boston Symphony Players/Eric Simon, Boston, Aug. 1960
Lennox-Ensemble, BBC Radio, Apr. 1968
Scottish Wind Ensemble, Edinburgh, Dec. 1973; BBC Radio, May 1974, Aug. 1975
Ensemble 20. Jahrhundert, Vienna Radio, Apr. 1989, Jun. 1989
Ryedale Festival Chamber Ensemble, Malton, Aug. 1990

Programme notes:

The Divertimento for wind, Op. 22, was composed in 1924, as a commission for the 1925 Festival of contemporary music in Kiel, organised by the 'Allgemeiner Deutscher Musikverein', on whose committee Gál subsequently served, along with Alban Berg and Ernst Toch. Gál wrote of the work:

"It is a 'divertimento' in the original sense of the term: Open air music in the character of a serenade, five movements of contrasting moods, lyrical and burlesque, concisely shaped and with the closely-knit texture of chamber music".