12th piano concerto (Mozart)

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The 12th Piano Concerto in A major, KV 414 , is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . According to another count, in which only the pure piano concertos by Mozart are counted, it is the 6th piano concerto.

Emergence

The piano concerto was written together with the 11th and 13th piano concerto in autumn 1782. They form the work group of the early Vienna concerts. The 12th piano concerto was written before the 11th piano concerto , but has a higher number. On December 28th, 1782 he wrote to his father about the newly created concerts: "The concerts are just the middle thing between too difficult and too easy. They are very brilliant - pleasant to the ears - of course without falling into the void. Now and then Even connoisseurs can get Satisfaction on their own - but in such a way - that those who are not in the know have to say satisfied without knowing why. " It is also clear from these lines that the concerts KV 413 to 415 were written for direct performance in Vienna and thus also pursued a commercial goal. The requirement was evidently to satisfy both connoisseurs and non-connoisseurs with the beauty of the sound. This kind of “simplicity” and restraint should not have been easy for Mozart, which is also shown by the unusually numerous sketches for the first movement. During the time of creation, I also encountered several string quartets by Joseph Haydn and various types of music by Georg Friedrich Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach . The death of Johann Christian Bach in January 1782, a direct role model of Mozart, also influenced the development process of the concert. In the second movement of the concert, Mozart quotes an overture by Johann Christian Bach.

To the music

1st movement: Allegro

The first movement begins with a restrained orchestral exposure in which, surprisingly, three instead of two themes are presented. The mood seems a little subdued and not left out, as is usual in many A major works by Mozart. The solo piano begins just as cautiously with the performance of the main theme. The second theme, which is charmingly accompanied by string pizzicati, is only taken up by the pianist after four bars. The third theme is completely missing in the solo exposure. The implementation , which is motivated by all means, prefers the first topic and also leaves out the third topic. Even the solo cadenza does not show the level of virtuosity that was already given, for example, in the piano concerto KV 271 . A short final group ends the sentence.

2nd movement: Andante

In the Andante, Mozart reminisces Johann Christian Bach, who died in London on January 1, 1782 , by quoting four bars from Bach's overture to the opera La calamità dei cuori as the main theme . The solo piano takes up this idea and, in the way it is processed, points to Beethoven's early piano sonatas . The Andante is designed in the form of a sonata , which occurs in some of Mozart's Andante movements. The implementation consists of the main theme in the main from a minor variant. A so-called solo entrance of the piano leads to the recapitulation . As for the other movements in the concerto, Mozart also offers three cadences to choose from for the Andante.

3rd movement: Rondeau

The final rondo is an example of Mozart's freer interpretation of the rondo form. The sentence consists of a synthesis of fantasy and logic on a considerable level. The hilarious A-theme (refrain) initially only appears in the orchestra, the solo piano leads with its own refrain (A ') to the first couplet (B). This imaginatively consists of elements of the transition from orchestral chorus and solo chorus. The second couplet (C), which is very similar in character to the first, leads unusually without repetition of A to the repetition of B. A very short solo cadence brings back the solo chorus. An unexpected entry in the coda brings the brilliant rondo to a happy ending.

In musicology there is the consideration that the Rondo KV 386 can be considered an alternative third movement to this piano concerto. The rondo movement, the score of which has not yet been fully discovered, is also in A major. It is possible that Mozart only decided during the composition process that the concerts should be performed a quattro , i.e. only with string quartet accompaniment, and replaced the Rondo KV 386, which does not meet these requirements, with the traditional rondeau movement.

Status

The 12th Piano Concerto is the first work of this genre, which was written after the 9th Piano Concerto , which was groundbreaking in many respects . The 10th piano concerto is a work for two pianos, and the 11th piano concerto was written afterwards. In this group of early Viennese concerts, Mozart began to work out a new concept for the piano concerto and to fundamentally change some of its components. For example, the main clauses at the beginning of the main clauses are becoming more and more important, so that the designation as orchestral exposure can soon be justified and established. In this context, Mozart's work increasingly points to Beethoven . In the exposition of this 12th Piano Concerto, Mozart introduces three instead of the usual two themes for the first time; a practice he will repeat many times later. These first Viennese concerts are also an important building block in the development of the obligatory accompaniment, from the accompagnement libre to the obligatory accompaniment. They are the last ones that formally allow the woodwind to be used freely. Another important element of the early Viennese concerts are the numerous solo cadences and entrances by the pianist, which lead to an increased virtuosity of the concerts.

literature

  • Hansjürgen Schaefer: concert book orchestral music GO. VEB Deutscher Verlag für Musik, Leipzig 1978, ISBN 3-370-00036-9 .
  • Harenberg concert guide. Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-611-00535-5 .
  • Marius Flothuis: Mozart's Piano Concertos. CH Beck Wissen, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-41874-0 .

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