8th piano concerto (Mozart)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 8th Piano Concerto in C major, KV 246 is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart . According to another count, in which only the concerts entirely by Mozart are taken into account, it is the 3rd concert.

Emergence

The piano concerto KV 246, like the 6th piano concerto, belongs to the group of the first Salzburg concerts. Mozart wrote it in April 1776 for Countess Antonia Lützow . The work is technically relatively undemanding so that the countess could cope with the work. Mozart also entered the elaboration of the continuo part in the sheet music of the solo piano so that the inexperienced Countess could manage this otherwise natural playing of the solo instrument in the tutti sections. Mozart recognized the advantage in the simple form of the concert that it "can also be practiced by other piano players in a relatively short time". That's why he took this simple work with him on his concert tour to Mannheim.

music

1st movement: Allegro aperto

The first ritornello introduces two themes of simple and exuberant character. Unusually a third thought is added in the solo exposure of the piano; normally there are two in Viennese classicism . However, the three thoughts presented are very similar and only brief. After a relatively undemanding solo cadenza which, as usual, ends with a final trill, the piano has another opportunity to speak; a procedure that Mozart will use more often in the later concerts.

2nd movement: Andante

The andante, kept simple, is the longest sentence. He stands in the sonata form and thus provides a brief and partly thematic implementation . The piano takes up the themes presented by the orchestra, but hardly develops them further. In some parts of the movement the oboes are obligatory because they lead the parts independently, which is rare in Mozart's early concerts. The viola parts are not divided, which is why it can be assumed that Mozart also thought of a performance with only four strings, such as in the 14th Piano Concerto KV 449 .

3rd movement: Tempo di Menuetto

The last movement is a rondo in minuet tempo , besides the minuet of the 11th Piano Concerto the only minuet in Mozart's piano concertos. The sentence is thematically designed. An inconspicuous motif from the theme leads to unexpected twists in some places, resulting in an almost kaleidoscopic, frequent change of scene. The A-theme of the rondo appears more and more abbreviated and at the end with an appended coda .

Status

The concert is one of Mozart's less played works today. Although it is an ideal piece for beginners to gain access to Mozart's piano concertos, it hardly points to the future and has less musical value than the other early works of the genre. The sentences have no relationship with each other and are simply structured. Structurally, the concerto behaves like Mozart's other early piano concertos.

The level, which was sufficient for the lower requirements, meant that the pianist Abbé Vogler tried to make up for this lack of virtuosity in one of his concert performances with speed. Mozart reported about it on January 17, 1778: “The first piece was Prestissimo, the Andante allegro and the Rondeau was truly Prestissimo”.

literature

Web links