Piano Concertos Nos. 1–4 (Mozart)

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Piano Concertos
Nos. 1–4
Arrangements of sonatas by other composers by
W. A. Mozart
The young composer in 1770
Key
Catalogue
K
. 37, 39–41
Composed1767 (1767)
Scoring
  • Piano
  • orchestra

piano concertos with four that he wrote at the age of 11, in Salzburg: K. 37 and 39–41. The autographs, all held by the Jagiellonian Library, Kraków, are dated by his father as having been completed in April (K. 37) and July (K. 39–41) of 1767. Although these works were long considered to be original, they are now known to be orchestrations of sonatas by various German virtuosi
. The works on which the concertos are based were largely published in Paris, and presumably Mozart and his family became acquainted with them or their composers during their visit to Paris in 1763–64.

By using movements from the sonatas of other composers, the young Mozart seems to have begun to learn how to cope with the structural problems of composing in the piano concerto form.[1] Indeed, it may be that Leopold Mozart had devised this as a compositional teaching method. If so, it seems that this may have been the first time this had been done by the composer. This is perhaps supported by two facts: First, Leopold excluded the first four concertos from his 1768 list, suggesting that he may not have considered them true compositions by his son. Second, the autographs of the four works are the joint products of both Mozart and Leopold (although K. 41 is mainly in Leopold's hand alone).[1]

No. 1 (K. 37) in F major

I. Allegro
II. Andante
III. Allegro
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The concerto is scored for strings, piano (or harpsichord) and pairs of oboes and French horns. The three movements are:

  1. Andante
    (C major, 4
    4    )
  2. Allegro (3
    4    )

The first movement is based on the initial allegro of the sonata for keyboard with violin accompaniment (Op. 1, No. 5) by

Grove's Dictionary (1954), suggested that it was in fact by Mozart. The final movement is based on the first movement of the sonata, Op. 2, No. 3, by the Strasbourg-based Leontzi Honauer.[2]

No. 2 (K. 39) in B♭ major

I. Allegro spiritoso
II. Andante
III. Molto allegro
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The concerto is scored for strings, piano (or harpsichord), and pairs of oboes and French horns, as above. The movements are:

  1. Allegro
    spiritoso
    (4
    4    )
  2. Andante (F Major, 4
    4    )
  3. Allegrissimo (2
    4    )

The first and third of the movements are again from Raupach (Op. 1, No. 1), whilst the slow movement is based on the opening movement of Johann Schobert's Op. 17, No. 2, a composer admired by Mozart.[2]

No. 3 (K. 40) in D major

The concerto is scored for strings, piano (or harpsichord), and pairs of French horns, oboes and trumpets. The movements are:

  1. Allegro maestoso (4
    4    )
  2. Andante (A Major, 2
    4    )
  3. Presto (3
    8    )

The first movement is based on the initial movement of Honauer's Op. 2, No. 1. The second on one by

C. P. E. Bach's piece La Boehmer, published in the early 1760s. Mozart's cadenzas for the concerto survive.[2]

No. 4 (K. 41) in G major

The concerto is scored for strings, piano (or harpsichord) and pairs of French horns and flutes. The movements are:

  1. Allegro (3
    4    )
  2. Andante (G minor, 2
    4    )
  3. Allegrissimo (3
    4    )

As all the movements of this concerto are in either G Major or G Minor, the work is homotonal. In only four other piano concerti by Mozart are the slow movement in a minor

key (

K. 488
).

This concerto also opens in triple meter, an unusual feature of Mozart's 27 Piano Concerti; only K. 41,

K. 449
open in triple meter.

The first and third movements are based on ones by Honauer (Op. 1, No. 1), and the middle one on Raupach (Op. 1, No. 1).[2]

Assessment

By comparison to Mozart's later concertos or even to those of

continuo
is not always clearly delineated. Nevertheless, some traces of his later structures can be detected: for example, the relative sizes of the sections is approximately similar, albeit on a smaller scale.

References

  1. ^ a b Stanley Sadie (2008) "Mozart: The early years"
  2. ^ a b c d Hermann Abert (2007) "W. A. Mozart"

Sources

  • Hutchings, A. A Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos, Oxford University Press.
    ISBN 0-19-816708-3
  • Mozart, W. A. Piano Concertos Nos. 1-6 in full score. Dover Publications, New York.
    ISBN 0-486-44191-1

External links
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