Horn Concerto No. 2 (Mozart)

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Horn Concerto in E-flat major
No. 2
by W. A. Mozart
Mozart (unfinished) by Lange 1782.jpg
The composer in 1782
Key E-flat major
Catalogue K. 417
Genre Concerto
Style Classical period
Composed1783 (1783)
MovementsThree (Allegro maestose, Andante, Rondo – Più allegro)
Scoring

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417 was completed in 1783.

Contents

The concerto is scored for solo horn and an orchestra of two oboes, two horns, and strings. This is one of two horn concerti of Mozart to omit bassoons. [1] It is also one of Mozart's two horn concerti to have ripieno horns (horns included in the orchestra besides the soloist), though in contrast to K. 495, the solo horn in this one does not duplicate the first ripieno horn's part in the tutti passages. [2]

Mozart's good-natured ribbing of his friend is evident in the manuscript inscription "W. A. Mozart took pity on Leitgeb, ass, ox and fool in Vienna on 27 May 1783." [3]

The finale of the concerto was used in various movies and TV shows such as Little Einsteins and JFK .

Structure

The work is in three movements:

  1. Allegro
  2. Andante (B-flat major)
  3. Rondo Allegro, Più allegro 6/8 [4]

Discography

Given its duration (no more than 20 minutes), the Concerto is typically grouped with Mozart's other 3 for the instrument. The foremost example [5] is Dennis Brain's November 1953 recording of the four horn concertos on EMI with The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

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  1. Allegro in 3
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  2. Larghetto in 4
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 1 in D major, K. (412+514)/386b was written in 1791. The work is in two movements. Unusually, each movement received a distinct number in the first edition of the Köchel catalogue:

  1. Allegro 4/4
  2. Rondo (Allegro) 6/8
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 447, was completed between 1784 and 1787, during the Vienna Period.

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The Piano Concerto No. 15 in B major, KV. 450 is a concertante work for piano and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concerto is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. A brief section of the third movement is played by Mozart in a deleted scene from the movie Amadeus.

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The Piano Concerto No. 16 in D major, K. 451, is a concertante work for piano, or pianoforte, and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart composed the concerto for performance at a series of concerts at the Vienna venues of the Trattnerhof and the Burgtheater in the first quarter of 1784, where he was himself the soloist. Mozart noted this concerto as complete on 22 March 1784 in his catalog, and performed the work later that month. Cliff Eisen has postulated that this performance was on 31 March 1784.

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It is not known when Mozart completed his Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 365/316a, but research by Alan Tyson shows that cadenzas for the first and third movements are written in his and his father's handwriting on a type of paper used between August 1775 and January 1777. However, most sources, including Alan Tyson's book Mozart: Studies of the Autograph Scores or more recently Lindeman's The Concerto: A Research and Information Guide (2006) indicate that it was composed in 1779. It is presumed that Mozart wrote it to play with his sister Maria Anna ("Nannerl"). Years later he performed it in a private concert with pupil Josepha Barbara Auernhammer.

Ludwig van Beethoven's Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in B-flat major, WoO 6 was composed in 1793 and originally intended as the final movement for his second piano concerto. Hans-Werner Küthen states this was probably the finale for the first and second versions of the second piano concerto, being replaced by the final version of the rondo in 1795. He also notes that the most likely inspiration for the insertion of an andante section into the rondo is the concluding rondo of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 22.

The Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in D major, K. 382 is a set of variations by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart intended as a substitute finale for his Piano Concerto No. 5 in D major.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Rondo in B for Violin and Orchestra, K. 269/261a, likely was composed between 1775 and 1777 as a replacement finale for the Violin Concerto No. 1, K. 207.

References

  1. Martha Kingdon Ward, "Mozart and the Bassoon" Music & Letters30, 1 (1949): 9
  2. Ralph Leavis, "Mozart's Last Horn Concerto" Music & Letters34, 4 (1953): 316
  3. Andrew Steptoe, Mozart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1997): 94
  4. Jean-Pierre Marty, The Tempo Indications of Mozart. New Haven & London: Yale University Press (1988): 43. "The very absence of sixteenths is also an incentive towards overly fast tempos, and this is why the finales of the Horn Concertos K.386b, 417 and 447 are almost always performed faster than 88/264. Yet, the finale of K.417 ends with a coda marked Più allegro, and the finale of the fourth horn concerto (K.495), though very similar in style to the other three, is marked Allegro vivace."
  5. (1988 Penguin Guide, p679)