Piano Concerto No. 24 (Mozart)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K
. 491 is a concertante work for piano
, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786 and completed the work on 24 March 1786. The premiere was on 7 April 1786 at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
The concerto has the following three movements
:
It is scored for flute
, 2 oboe
s, 2 clarinet
s, 2 bassoon
s, 2 horns
, 2 trumpet
s, timpani
and strings
. Of the Mozart piano concerto
s, this one has the most complete scoring. (It is the only one scored for both oboes and clarinets.) It is also the only late Mozart piano concerto in which the soloist plays after the cadenza
in the first movement, here adorning an orchestral argument based on the extremely chromatic
opening theme of the work with arpeggio
s, all the way through to the quiet close. It is one of only two minor-key piano concertos (the other being No. 20
in D Minor), and one of only three concertos where the first movement is in 3/4 time (the others being No. 11
and No. 14
). The whole performance lasts roughly 30 minutes.
The concerto has long been considered one of Mozart's greatest works. Arthur Hutchings
has described it as the most "concerted" of all the concertos (i.e. the most integrated). Girdlestone
has also effectively claimed it as the greatest. Ludwig van Beethoven
took particular inspiration for his own music
from this concerto. Richard Strauss
played his own cadenza for the concerto in 1885.
The work has obvious musical antecedents in Joseph Haydn
's Symphony No. 78
, also in C minor and from which the Concerto's opening statement is drawn. Jonathan Stock has analysed in detail Mozart's use of woodwind timbre in the instrumentation of the concerto's slow movement. Chris Goertzen has mapped the structure of the slow movement.
The concerto was first published in parts in 1800. The manuscript of the concerto resides at the Royal College of Music
.
Köchel-Verzeichnis
The Köchel-Verzeichnis is a complete, chronological catalogue of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which was originally created by Ludwig von Köchel. It is abbreviated K or KV. For example, Mozart's Requiem in D minor was, according to Köchel's counting, the 626th piece Mozart composed....
. 491 is a concertante work for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
. Mozart composed the concerto in the winter of 1785–1786 and completed the work on 24 March 1786. The premiere was on 7 April 1786 at the Burgtheater, Vienna.
The concerto has the following three movements
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...
:
- Allegro in C minorC minorC minor is a minor scale based on C, consisting of the pitches C, D, E, F, G, A, and B. The harmonic minor raises the B to B. Changes needed for the melodic and harmonic versions of the scale are written in with naturals and accidentals as necessary.Its key signature consists of three flats...
- Larghetto in E-flat major
- Allegretto (VariationsVariation (music)In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve harmony, melody, counterpoint, rhythm, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these.-Variation form:...
) in C minor
It is scored for flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...
s, 2 clarinet
Clarinet
The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...
s, 2 bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...
s, 2 horns
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....
, 2 trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
s, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...
and strings
String section
The string section is the largest body of the standard orchestra and consists of bowed string instruments of the violin family.It normally comprises five sections: the first violins, the second violins, the violas, the cellos, and the double basses...
. Of the Mozart piano concerto
Piano concerto
A piano concerto is a concerto written for piano and orchestra.See also harpsichord concerto; some of these works are occasionally played on piano...
s, this one has the most complete scoring. (It is the only one scored for both oboes and clarinets.) It is also the only late Mozart piano concerto in which the soloist plays after the cadenza
Cadenza
In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....
in the first movement, here adorning an orchestral argument based on the extremely chromatic
Chromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
opening theme of the work with arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s, all the way through to the quiet close. It is one of only two minor-key piano concertos (the other being No. 20
Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on February 11, 1785, with the composer as the soloist.-Background:...
in D Minor), and one of only three concertos where the first movement is in 3/4 time (the others being No. 11
Piano Concerto No. 11 (Mozart)
Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, KV. 413 , was the second of the group of three early concertos he wrote whilst in Vienna, in the autumn of 1782 . It was the first full concerto he wrote for the subscription concerts he gave in the city...
and No. 14
Piano Concerto No. 14 (Mozart)
The Piano Concerto No. 14 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written in 1784 is a piano concerto in E-flat major catalogued with K. 449.It is the first composition he entered into a notebook of his music he then kept for the next seven years, marking down main themes, dates of completion, and other...
). The whole performance lasts roughly 30 minutes.
The concerto has long been considered one of Mozart's greatest works. Arthur Hutchings
Arthur Hutchings
Arthur James Bramwell Hutchings was professor of music at the University of Durham, England. He wrote extensively on topics as varied as nineteenth-century English church music, Schubert, Edmund Rubbra, and baroque concertos; but his most famous work was the Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos,...
has described it as the most "concerted" of all the concertos (i.e. the most integrated). Girdlestone
Cuthbert Girdlestone
Cuthbert Morton Girdlestone was a British musicologist and literary scholar. He was educated at Cambridge and the Sorbonne, and thereafter took up the chair in French in Armstrong College, later to be King's College in Newcastle in 1926, a position he held until 1960...
has also effectively claimed it as the greatest. Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
took particular inspiration for his own music
Piano Concerto No. 3 (Beethoven)
The Piano Concerto No. 3 in C minor, Op. 37, was composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1800 and was first performed on 5 April 1803, with the composer as soloist. During that same performance, the Second Symphony and the oratorio Christ on the Mount of Olives were also debuted. The composition...
from this concerto. Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
played his own cadenza for the concerto in 1885.
The work has obvious musical antecedents in Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
's Symphony No. 78
Symphony No. 78 (Haydn)
The Symphony No. 78 in C minor, Hoboken 1/78, is a symphony by Joseph Haydn in 1782-Early set of symphonies for London:In 1782, almost a decade before Haydn composed the first of his famous London symphonies, he composed a trio of symphonies – 76, 77 and 78 – for a trip to London which...
, also in C minor and from which the Concerto's opening statement is drawn. Jonathan Stock has analysed in detail Mozart's use of woodwind timbre in the instrumentation of the concerto's slow movement. Chris Goertzen has mapped the structure of the slow movement.
The concerto was first published in parts in 1800. The manuscript of the concerto resides at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
.
Sources
- Girdlestone, C. M.Cuthbert GirdlestoneCuthbert Morton Girdlestone was a British musicologist and literary scholar. He was educated at Cambridge and the Sorbonne, and thereafter took up the chair in French in Armstrong College, later to be King's College in Newcastle in 1926, a position he held until 1960...
Mozart's Piano Concertos. Cassell, London. - Hutchings, A. A Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos, Oxford University Press.
- Mozart, W. A. Piano Concertos Nos. 23-27 in full score. Dover Publications, New York.
- Tovey, D. F. Essays in musical analysis, volume 3, Concertos. Oxford University Press.
External links
- BBC Discovering Music (browse for .ram file for this work)