Piano Concerto No. 14 (Mozart)

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Piano Concerto in E♭ major
No. 14
by
K
. 449
Composed1784 (1784)
MovementsAllegro vivace
Andantino
Allegro ma non troppo
Scoring
  • Piano
  • orchestra

The Piano Concerto No. 14 in

K. 449, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in 1784
.

History

It is the first composition he entered into a notebook of his music that he then kept for the next seven years, marking down main

themes
, dates of completion, and other important information. From this notebook we have the information that he completed the concerto on February 9, 1784.

In the same year, he wrote several concertos in succession, and in a letter to his father that May, wrote of the 15th and 16th concertos (K. 450 and 451) that he "could not choose between them" but that "the one in E-flat [No. 14] does not belong at all to the same category. It is one of a quite peculiar kind...". The 14th is regarded as being the first of the mature series of concertos Mozart wrote, and indeed, commentators such as Girdlestone and Hutchings[This quote needs a citation] valued it as one of the best, particularly as all three movements are of the highest standard.

Mozart wrote this and the piano concertos nos. 12, K. 414, and 13, K. 415, for his subscription concerts, "either with a large orchestra with wind instruments or merely a quattro" [with string quartet].[1]

Structure

The concerto is scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns and strings.

The concerto has three movements:

  1. Allegro vivace (3
    4    )
  2. Andantino (B♭ major, 2
    4    )
  3. Allegro ma non troppo (2
    2     – 6
    8    )

Works written in 1784 include, besides this concerto, the five piano concertos 15–19, the

second cello concerto of Joseph Haydn. Michael Haydn had published two sets of quartets the year before, and Carl Stamitz and Ignaz Pleyel
each wrote another set of six quartets (Pleyel released a further set in 1784.) A Pleyel cello concerto (in C) was also released at some point between 1782–84 (Pleyel being a composer whose quartets, at least, Mozart rated highly.)

I. Allegro vivace

The first movement begins in a 3
4

the fourth, the eleventh, and twenty-fourth open with a movement in 3
4. It is also traditional, in the tutti of a classical concerto, for there to be little key
adventuring. There are several reasons for this, but the upshot is that, the less this is true, the harder it becomes to distinguish the tutti from the opening of a classical-era symphony.

The first phrase of this concerto begins ambiguously. A unison E♭ followed by a C, then a G, is followed by the

theme is heard, played by strings
, winds not coming in until its later strain (near the modulation back into E♭).

The first movement ventures off from the normal conception of the concerto. Usually, when it comes time for the

cadential trill on the tonic after which the orchestra will play part of the ritornello leading to the cadential I6
4
, at which point the soloists performs the cadenza. However, instead of the trill being accompanied by strings, it is interrupted by them on the second beat and ends up resolving to C minor. Shortly thereafter, however, the I6
4 arrives and the cadenza begins and everything continues on as normal.

III. Allegro ma non troppo

(

monothematic
: "When, score in hand, one notes each return of the first subject... it is possible to pick out the four expositions of the [rondo] refrain and the three couplets... but on hearing it one's impression is that the refrain never leaves the stage."

References

  1. Naxos Records. 8.557881
    .

Sources

Further reading

External links
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