Concerto C major for Pianoforte and Orchestra [antikvár]

illMozart's Piano Concerto Koechel No. 415 in C majorThe third of Mozart's three "Subscription-Concertos" (Koechel No. 413, 414, 415), written in Vienna during the winter of 1782/83 and completed there by January 23, 1783,^ differsat least in its ultimate shapenot inconsiderably from its two predecessors. It makes use of a more ambitious scale of orchestral sonorities; it defines the "Tutti"-function of the Pianoforte more clearly by a more explicitly figured Bass; and finally, it deliberately adjusts the formal layout of the Concerto to the generally accepted pattern of the French Concerto-type. This is especially evident in the two flanking movements. The first is propelled by the martial dotted rhythm so popular with the French; also the famous initial triplet-motive of the later "Jupiter" symphony crops up in the closing section of its first "Ritornello". The Rondo-Finale (C major, 6/8) conforms to the loosely knit "Potpourri"-variant of the French "Rondeau" with its numerous contrast-sections, well known from Mozart's Violin Concertos in G and in D (Koechel No. 216 and 218) of 1775. For the curious structure of the Finale ABACABAthe intrusion of a highly emotional c-minor section in slow 2/4 is chiefly responsible. Its thematic material is an offshoot of a (discarded) sketch for a slow middle movement in c-minor (3/4) (Cf. Autograph, foi. 19, b/20 a) which was soon replaced by the serenely lyrical Andante in F major. Mozart's successful attempt to write a piece of virtuosic brilliance and to conform more closely to the accepted standard of current Concerto-style has not exactly endeared the work to modern commentators who are inclined to censure its alleged shallowness. Mozart seems to have thought otherwise. For in contradistinction to Koechel Nos. 413 and 414 whose dates of first performance still remain a matter for coniecturewe know exactly that and when Mozart performed Koechel No. 415 in public. His letters to his father, dated March 12, 29 and April 12, 1783, make it clear beyond reasonable doubt that he played K.415 ("the third of my Subscription-Concertos") in his own "Akademie" of March 22, 1783, as well as in the "Akademie" of Mile. Teyber a week later (i.e. on March 30, 1783).^Both Concerts met with huge success, Mozart's own "Akademie" yielding a net profit of 1600 florins; both were attended by Emperor Joseph II and in both "Akademien" the Rondo-Finale of K.415 scored special applause and had to be encoredprobably because of the surprise-character of its contrast-sections. On March 30 Mozart replaced the expected encore of the Rondo-Finale by a solo-extemporization which electrified the Viennese.All three "Subscription-Concertos" were originally scored for the old "Neapolitan" windband only (Oboes and Horns). That this was the outcome of Mozart's deliberate policy endeavouring to smooth their passage and to make them more acceptable also as Piano-Quintets clearly emerges from his letter to the publisher Sieber, dated April 26, 1783.^ However, a closer investigation of the first prints and of their early reprints during Mozart's lifetime proves that the original orchestral scheme was improved upon at an early date. A. Einstein" mentions that the Bassoons, employed in the Largiietto of K.413, were only inserted post festum by the composer. Similarly, .\ndre issued K.414 with added Bassoons in 1802, an implementation which may well have been based on an authentic afterthought. In the case of K.415 however the more brilliant orchestration was only arrived at gradually. This emerges from a collation of the Concerto's first print (Artaria, Vienna, 1785 = AR) withe.e.6062