5th piano concerto (Mozart)

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The 5th piano concerto in D major, KV 175 is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . According to another count, it is his first independent piano concerto, since this was preceded by studies with the so-called pasticcio concertos KV 37–41 and the three piano concertos KV 107 based on sonatas by Johann Christian Bach .

Emergence

Mozart wrote the concerto at the age of 17 in December 1773. It was written over six years after the first attempts with the pasticcio concerts. A time in which Mozart had acquired the necessary skills for his own first work of such a complex work. It already shows Mozart's own, unmistakable features, even if some passages are still reminiscent of the models Joseph Haydn , Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Christian Bach .

music

1st movement: Allegro

The structure of the movement in sonata form essentially corresponds to the usual Mozartian conception of a first movement in the solo concerto. The orchestra's entrance hall introduces both themes. It is still quite common in Mozart's piano concertos, based on Baroque solo concerts, to speak of ritornelles. The main theme is cheerful and catchy. The solo exposure takes up the phrases of the first orchestral tutti and expands them. The piano shifts the action into the dominant in A major. The implementation preferably, the first issue that the piano figurative is lapped. Shortly after the development begins, a false recapitulation is heard . A piano solo cadenza , which already requires a considerable amount of technical skill, leads to the short final ritornello.

2nd movement: Andante ma un poco adagio

The movement is in G major and uses a shortened form of the sonata main clause . The orchestra introduces the calm theme, which the solo piano takes after a few bars. The movement shows a relationship with the concert aria KV 294, which bears the tempo designation Andante sostenuto . The middle movement already shows features of the deep middle movements of Mozart's later piano concertos.

3rd movement: Allegro

The finale points least to the future; the canonically guided main theme is more reminiscent of a baroque concert. What is new, however, is the manner in which the piano figurines are designed, which are subtle and imaginative. The main theme consists essentially of a descending chord played by the strings in unison and shifted syncopated in the last two notes . From this the musical course develops. A short and virtuoso cadenza leads to the optimistic end of the concert.

This sentence was later replaced by the Rondo KV 382 to satisfy the Viennese audience. The Rondo, created nine years later, shows considerable stylistic differences from the rest of the concert.

effect

The concert was already very popular during Mozart's lifetime; the performances were very well attended. The concerto was performed in Vienna in 1778, 1782 and 1783, which was not exactly common, since many small compositions of the time were more occasional pieces that were only performed a few times. This was to change permanently with the works of Mozart.

Status

Mozart's first independent piano concerto is in some ways atypical for Mozart. The fact that the unusually large orchestra includes horn, trumpets and timpani and the final movement is in the pure main movement of the sonata is an exception for his early piano concertos. This is also the case in the violin concerto KV 207 , which was written at the same time . Both sentences were later replaced by simple rondo sentences . Another peculiarity of the work is the small range that the piano has to cope with (A to d '' '). Even in his earliest works, Mozart had already called for larger pitch ranges. This can either be explained by the fact that the work was intended for an interpreter whose instrument had a small range, or the work has not been handed down in its original form, but rather in an edited form. The autograph has not been found since 1860.

The piano concerto KV 175 is a forerunner of the following great piano concertos by Mozart. In the piano concerto KV 451 Mozart will again use the key of D major. The work already gives an idea of ​​the ingenuity and ingenuity of the later concerts. It represents a great step forward compared to the previous works in the manner of Johann Christian Bach and Georg Christoph Wagenseil . The concertante principle of solo and tutti in dialogic competition finds true development here. The quality of Mozart's works lies in the beauty of the melodic ideas and the depth of feeling. The 5th Piano Concerto shows the way that Mozart will follow in the following masterpieces of the genre.

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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