26th Piano Concerto (Mozart)

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The 26th Piano Concerto in D major, KV 537 is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . According to a different count, in which only the pure and completely Mozart piano concertos are counted, it is his 20th piano concerto.

Emergence

The 26th piano concerto has the commonly used nickname "Coronation Concerto " . The work was written in Vienna in February 1788 , more than a year after the previous 25th Piano Concerto KV 503 . During this time, Mozart's last three great symphonies were composed. The 26th piano concerto was first performed in Dresden in 1789. It got its name and probably also its purpose on the occasion of its performance for the coronation of Leopold II in Frankfurt in 1790 . There it was played on October 15th together with the 19th Piano Concerto KV 459 in a gala concert.

To the music

1st movement: Allegro moderato

The first movement begins rather cautiously in piano , before solemn trumpet sounds ring in the orchestral tutti. A second theme, also initially presented piano, has a mischievous effect and entails a lengthy follow-up, which, however, can hardly be assessed as an independent third theme. The following solo exposure begins with the first theme presented solo and then expands the second theme considerably. The following implementation is first of all motifs, but ends almost improvisatory. The musical design is not of the usual quality, but is often limited to scale runs. Only the beginning of the development consists of dramatic elements due to a minor twist. The recapitulation is essentially regular and leads relatively suddenly to the solo cadenza . The movement then ends with an unusually short closing chant with some festive chords.

2nd movement: Larghetto

The tempo designation Larghetto does not come from Mozart himself, who titled the movement in the sketches Romance . It has a simple three-part structure. A simple, peaceful theme in A major is introduced by the solo piano and immediately answered by the orchestra. The following middle section is divided into two parts and begins with an irregular periodization of the topic. A modulating part then moves through the keys of E minor, B minor, A minor and C major. The first part is repeated. A short and simple coda ends the movement.

3rd movement: Allegretto

The final movement corresponds to the type of large rondo often used by Mozart . It represents the musically most important movement of the concert. The solo piano presents a simple, amusing theme, which the orchestra takes up with timpani accents. This refrain theme gets an appendix, which can be called a complementary main theme rather than justifying the name as a second theme. The first couplet turns briefly to A minor and consists primarily of the soloist's scale runs. Mozart adds instead of a second couplets a small carrying one, as he had done already in some concerts, and thus amalgamated rondo and sonata form . This development mainly uses the complementary theme and modulates from B minor to B major to G major. This is followed by the repetition of the first couplet, which leads to the recurrence of the refrain theme by means of an entrance to the solo piano. A solemn coda ends the rondo.

Status

Outwardly, the 26th piano concerto also belongs to the symphonic piano concertos , like all of Mozart's piano concertos since the 20th piano concerto, K. 466 . The cast is just as large as, for example, in the festive concerts KV 451 or KV 467 . Mozart prescribes the use of trumpets and timpani for this concert too, which is hardly surprising, given that the concert is intended for an imperial coronation ceremony. In terms of musical quality, however, this concert is by no means in the tradition of the great Viennese concerts. The topics are hardly significant and the piano technique is kept simple. It mainly consists of a scale and does not contain any innovative moments. In terms of structure, Mozart does not break new ground here either, but adheres to older formal principles. These aspects place the 26th Piano Concerto close to the early, more immature Mozart concerts. Since the work was conceived for a coronation ceremony, it does not seem surprising that the artist Mozart takes a back seat to the external effect and the social and aristocratic conventions, as he has actually not done for a long time. This is a concession that will no longer be made with Beethoven .

literature

  • Hansjürgen Schaefer : concert book orchestral music GO. VEB German publishing house for music, Leipzig 1978.
  • Harenberg concert guide. Harenberg Kommunikation, Dortmund 1998, ISBN 3-611-00535-5 .
  • Marius Flothuis: Mozart's Piano Concertos. CH Beck Wissen, Munich 1998.

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