Piano Concerto No. 6 (Mozart)

I. Allegro aperto

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II. Andante un poco adagio

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III. Rondeau: Allegro

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The Piano Concerto No. 6 in B-flat major, K. 238, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in January 1776. His Concerto No. 7 (K. 242) for three pianos and his Concerto No. 8 (K. 246) in C major would follow within three months. The three works share what Cuthbert Girdlestone refers to as a galant style.^[1]

The work is structured in three movements:

1. Allegro aperto
2. Andante un poco adagio
3. Rondeau: Allegro

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two horns, solo piano, and strings. It is a lightly textured work from early in Mozart's career. The United States Library of Congress holds the autograph score. Mozart had intended to publish the score after he composed it, but it did not appear in print until after his death, in 1793.^[2] He did, however, perform the work, in Munich in 1777,^[3] and in Augsburg on 22 October 1777. His student Rose Cannabich performed the work in Mannheim on 13 February 1778.^[2] Angela Hewitt observes that the first performances of the work were probably on a harpsichord rather than a fortepiano.^[4]

Music

The first movement, in

In the final Rondeau, the oboes return instead of the flutes, but the horns receive prominence. Hewitt recalls, that Mozart asked his sister once to remind him "to give the horns something worthwhile to do". They contribute to the dance-like character of the movement. A section in G minor is called "the one really virtuoso page of the concerto, requiring some very nimble Baroque-style fingerwork".^[4] Mozart wrote another short cadenza, with rests that still should be improvised by the soloist.^[4]

References