Piano Concerto No. 27 (Mozart)
Encyclopedia
The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B flat major, K
. 595, is a concertante work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
, for piano or fortepiano and orchestra, the last piano concerto he wrote.
by Mozart and by a clarinetist Joseph Bähr. If so, this was Mozart's last appearance in a public concert, as he took ill in September 1791 and died on 5 December 1791. Another possibility is that it was premiered by Mozart's pupil Barbara Ployer
on the occasion of a public concert at the Auersperg palace in January 1791.
, which makes it thinner than Mozart's other late concertos, all of which except for No. 23 have trumpet and timpani. It has the following three movements
:
Although all three movements are in a major key, minor keys are suggested, as is evident from the second theme of the first movement (in the dominant minor), as well as the presence of a remote minor key in the early development of that movement and of the tonic minor in the middle of the Larghetto.
Another interesting characteristic of the work is its rather strong thematic integration of the movements, which would become ever more important in the nineteenth century. The principal theme of the Larghetto, for instance, is revived as the second theme of the final movement (in the 65th measure). The principal theme for finale was also used in Mozart's song "Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling" (also called "Komm, lieber Mai") , K. 596, which immediately follows this concerto in the Köchel catalogue.
Mozart wrote down his cadenza
s for the first and third movements.
Simon Keefe has discussed the concerto in detail, with emphasis on the distinctive character and experiments in style of the concerto compared to Mozart's other concerti in this genre.
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....
. 595, is a concertante work 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...
, for piano or fortepiano and orchestra, the last piano concerto he wrote.
Time of composition
The manuscript is dated 5 January 1791. However, Alan Tyson's analysis of the paper on which Mozart composed the work indicated that Mozart used this paper between December 1787 and February 1789, which implies composition well before 1791. Simon Keefe has written that the composition of the work dates from 1788. By contrast, Wolfgang Rehm has stated that Mozart composed this concerto in late 1790 and early 1791. Cliff Eisen has discussed the controversy over the time of composition in his review of the published facsimile of the score.Premiere
The work followed by some years the series of highly successful concertos Mozart wrote for his own concerts, and by the time of its premiere Mozart was no longer so prominent a performer on the public stage. The concerto may have been first performed at a concert on 4 March 1791 in Jahn's HallJahn's Hall
Jahn's Hall was a concert hall in late 18th century Vienna. It was the property of a restaurateur/caterer named Ignaz Jahn, and seated "400 at the most". It is remembered as a performance venue for works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.-Ignaz Jahn:Jahn was born in Hungary in...
by Mozart and by a clarinetist Joseph Bähr. If so, this was Mozart's last appearance in a public concert, as he took ill in September 1791 and died on 5 December 1791. Another possibility is that it was premiered by Mozart's pupil Barbara Ployer
Barbara Ployer
Maria Anna Barbara or Babette Ployer was an Austrian piano and composition pupil of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, for whom he wrote two piano concertos in 1784, No. 14 KV. 449 and No. 17, KV...
on the occasion of a public concert at the Auersperg palace in January 1791.
Instrumentation and movements
The work is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, solo piano and stringsString 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...
, which makes it thinner than Mozart's other late concertos, all of which except for No. 23 have trumpet and timpani. It 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
- Larghetto in E-flat major
- Allegro
Although all three movements are in a major key, minor keys are suggested, as is evident from the second theme of the first movement (in the dominant minor), as well as the presence of a remote minor key in the early development of that movement and of the tonic minor in the middle of the Larghetto.
Another interesting characteristic of the work is its rather strong thematic integration of the movements, which would become ever more important in the nineteenth century. The principal theme of the Larghetto, for instance, is revived as the second theme of the final movement (in the 65th measure). The principal theme for finale was also used in Mozart's song "Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling" (also called "Komm, lieber Mai") , K. 596, which immediately follows this concerto in the Köchel catalogue.
Mozart wrote down his 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....
s for the first and third movements.
Simon Keefe has discussed the concerto in detail, with emphasis on the distinctive character and experiments in style of the concerto compared to Mozart's other concerti in this genre.
Sources
- Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965) Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Solomon, Maynard (1995) Mozart: A Life. Harper Collins.
External links
- BBC Discovering Music (browse for .ram file for discussion of this work)