Piano Concerto No. 26 (Mozart)

Last updated

Piano Concerto in D major
No. 26 "Coronation"
by W. A. Mozart
Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 26 - Opening Page of the Autograph Manuscript.jpg
The first page of the autograph manuscript
Key D major
Catalogue K. 537
Genre Concerto
Style Classical period
Composed1788 (1788)
MovementsThree (Allegro, Larghetto, Allegretto)
Scoring
  • Piano
  • orchestra
Gnome-mime-audio-openclipart.svg
1. Allegro
2. Larghetto
3. Allegretto
Performed by Lili Kraus and the Amsterdam Philharmonic Society Orchestra, under the baton of Gianfranco Rivoli
Problems playing these files? See media help.

The Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major, K. 537, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and completed on 24 February 1788. It is generally known as the Coronation Concerto.

Contents

The concerto is scored for solo piano, one flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani (in D, A), and strings.

The autograph manuscript of the concerto is preserved in the Morgan Library & Museum.

Origin of the nickname "Coronation"

The traditional name associated with this work is not Mozart's own, nor was the work written on the occasion for which posterity has named it. Mozart remarked in a letter to his wife in April 1789 that he had just performed this concerto at court. (While this performance on 14 April has often been assumed to have been the work's premiere, H. C. Robbins Landon considers this "exceedingly unlikely".) [1] But the nickname "Coronation" was derived from his playing of the work at the time of the coronation of Leopold II as Holy Roman Emperor in October 1790 in Frankfurt am Main. At the same concert, Mozart also played the Piano Concerto No. 19, K. 459. [2]

Alan Tyson in his introduction to Dover Publications' facsimile of the autograph score (which today is in the Morgan Library & Museum in New York) comments that "Although K. 459 has at times been called a 'Coronation' concerto, this title has nearly always been applied to K. 537". [3]

Movements

The concerto has the following three movements:

  1. Allegro in D major, Commontime.svg
  2. (Larghetto) in A major, Allabreve.svg
  3. (Allegretto) in D major, 2
    4

The second and third movements have their tempos given above in parentheses because in the autograph these are not given in Mozart's own handwriting but were written in by someone else. (The Neue Mozart-Ausgabe [NMA V/15/8, ed. Wolfgang Rehm] places the note "Tempobezeichnung im Autograph von fremder Hand" ["Tempo indication in autograph by another hand"] on both movements, [4] though the old Breitkopf & Härtel Complete Works edition does not have any indication that the tempos are not Mozart's own. [5] )

The unfinished keyboard part

This illustration shows the beginning of the piano solo in the first movement of K. 537 (measures 81-4). The upper staff shows the notes written in Mozart's autograph score. The lower staff, presented here in smaller notes, is not given in the autograph but first appeared in the 1794 edition printed by Johann Andre. Moz537i.gif
This illustration shows the beginning of the piano solo in the first movement of K. 537 (measures 81–4). The upper staff shows the notes written in Mozart's autograph score. The lower staff, presented here in smaller notes, is not given in the autograph but first appeared in the 1794 edition printed by Johann André.
Measures 81-82 in the autograph manuscript, with no left-hand part. Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 26 - Piano mm 81 to 82 in the autograph manuscript.png
Measures 81–82 in the autograph manuscript, with no left-hand part.

There is a very unusual feature to this concerto. In addition to omitting the tempi for two of the movements, Mozart also, in Tyson's words, "did not write any notes for the piano's left hand in a great many measures throughout the work." [7] As can be seen in the Dover Publications facsimile, large stretches of the solo part simply have nothing at all for the left hand, including the opening solo (mvmt. I, mm. 81–99) and the whole of the second movement. [8] There is in fact no other Mozart piano concerto of which so much of the solo part was left unfinished by the composer.

The 1794 first edition had these gaps filled in, and most Mozart scholars such as Alfred Einstein and Alan Tyson have assumed that the additions were made by the publisher Johann André. Einstein is on record as finding André's completion somewhat wanting: "For the most part, this version is extremely simple and not too offensive, but at times—for example, in the accompaniment of the Larghetto theme—it is very clumsy, and the whole solo part would gain infinitely by revision and refinement in Mozart's own style." [9]

Nearly all of the passages that necessitated filling in for the first edition lack only simple accompanimental patterns such as Alberti bass figures and chords. For example, measures 145–151 of the first movement, which involve more complicated virtuoso passagework, are fully written out in the autograph. For the less complex portions of the solo, it is clear that Mozart "knew perfectly well what he had to play" [10] and so left them incomplete.

The old Breitkopf & Härtel Mozart Complete Works score of this concerto does not make any distinction between what Mozart himself wrote and what André (or someone commissioned by him) supplied. However, the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe volume referenced above prints André's supplements in smaller type, to clearly distinguish them from Mozart's own notes.

Critical reception

While this concerto enjoyed a great popularity at the time due to its beauty and rococo (or galant) style, later judgments have been more divided. [11] Some authorities have judged it to be of a lower quality than the twelve previous Viennese piano concertos or the final concerto in B♭. [12] [13] This amounts to a complete reversal of critical opinion, since K. 537 used to be one of Mozart's most celebrated keyboard concertos, especially during the 19th century. Still in 1935, Friedrich Blume, editor of the Eulenburg edition of this work, described it as "the best known and most frequently played" of Mozart's piano concertos. [14] But writing in 1945, the musicologist Alfred Einstein commented:

...It is very Mozartean, while at the same time it does not express the whole or even the half of Mozart. It is, in fact, so 'Mozartesque' that one might say that in it Mozart imitated himself—no difficult task for him. It is both brilliant and amiable, especially in the slow movement; it is very simple, even primitive, in its relation between the solo and the tutti, and so completely easy to understand that even the nineteenth century always grasped it without difficulty.... [10]

Nonetheless, the "Coronation" concerto remains frequently performed today, and more recently prominent Mozart's interpreters, such as the pianist Mitsuko Uchida and the conductor Colin Davis, have described it as an underrated masterpiece. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 13 (Mozart)</span>

The Piano Concerto No. 13 in C major, K. 415 (387b) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was composed in Vienna in 1782–83. It is the third of the first three full concertos Mozart composed for his subscription concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 13 (Mozart)</span>

The Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major, K. 333 (315c), also known as the "Linz Sonata", was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Linz at the end of 1783.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 12 (Mozart)</span>

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414 (385p), was written in the autumn of 1782 in Vienna. It is scored for solo piano, two oboes, two bassoons (optional), two horns, and strings. Like all three of the early Vienna concertos that Mozart wrote, it is a modest work that can be performed with only string quartet and keyboard. As per 18th century performance practice a string orchestra could also have served as a suitable option for the "quattro" accompaniment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 7 (Mozart)</span>

In 1776, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed three piano concertos, one of which was the Concerto for three pianos and orchestra in F major, No. 7, K. 242. He originally finished it in February 1776 for three pianos; however, when he eventually recomposed it for himself and another pianist in 1780 in Salzburg, he rearranged it for two pianos, and that is how the piece is often performed today. The concerto is often nicknamed "Lodron" because it was commissioned by Countess Antonia Lodron to be played with her two daughters Aloysia and Giuseppa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 27 (Mozart)</span> 1791 piano concerto by W. A. Mozart

The Piano Concerto No. 27 in B♭ major, K. 595, is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's last piano concerto; it was first performed early in 1791, the year of his death.

<i>Neue Mozart-Ausgabe</i> Catalogue of compositions; second complete works edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Neue Mozart-Ausgabe is the second complete works edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A longer and more formal title for the edition is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke [Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): New Edition of the Complete Works].

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alte Mozart-Ausgabe</span>

The Alte Mozart-Ausgabe is the name by which the first complete edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is known. It was published by Breitkopf & Härtel from January 1877 to December 1883, with supplements published until 1910. The name Alte Mozart-Ausgabe is actually a modern invention to distinguish the edition from the second Mozart complete works edition, the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe; the publication title of Breitkopf & Härtel's edition was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Werke. Kritisch durchgesehene Gesammtausgabe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 11 (Mozart)</span>

Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 11 in F major, K. 413, was the second of the group of three early concertos he wrote when in Vienna, in the autumn of 1782. It was the first full concerto he wrote for the subscription concerts he gave in the city. The autograph is held by the Jagiellońska Library, Kraków with an additional, now incomplete, copy that Mozart brought to Salzburg in 1783, in the library of the Archabbey of St Peter's, Salzburg. The concerto is in the usual three movements:

  1. Allegro in 3
    4
  2. Larghetto in 4
    4
  3. Tempo di menuetto in 3
    4

The Quintet in E♭ major for Piano and Winds, K. 452, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on March 30, 1784 and premiered two days later at the Imperial and Royal National Court Theater in Vienna. Shortly after the premiere, Mozart wrote to his father that "I myself consider it to be the best thing I have written in my life." It is scored for piano, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Horn Concerto No. 3</span> Mozart horn concerto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3 in E-flat major, K. 447, was completed between 1784 and 1787, during the Vienna Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mass in G major, K. 140 "Pastoral"</span>

The Missa brevis in G major, K. 140, K3 Anh. 235d, K6 Anh. C 1.12, was probably composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart shortly after returning to Salzburg, in March 1773, from his third trip to Italy.

The Rondo for Piano and Orchestra in A major, K. 386 is a concert rondo by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, believed by Alfred Einstein to have been composed in late 1782.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata in B-flat major, K. 498a</span>

The Piano Sonata in B-flat major, K. 498a, is a piano sonata in four movements. It was first printed in 1798 by P. J. Thonus in Leipzig on behalf of Breitkopf & Härtel and attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; an edition printed in c. 1805 already credited it as opus 26 of the Thomascantor August Eberhard Müller (1767–1817). Some publications still attribute it to Mozart, often as Piano Sonata No. 20.

The Symphony in F major "No. 42", K. 75, was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart probably around March to August 1771 in Salzburg.

The Symphony in B♭ major "No. 55", K. Anh. 214/45b, was probably written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in early 1768 in Salzburg.

The Concerto for Violin, Piano and Orchestra, K. Anh. 56/315f by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is an unfinished work that was written in Mannheim in 1778. It was written for an Academie des Amateurs that was to take place in Mannheim. Mozart himself was to play the piano part and Ignaz Fränzl, the concertmaster of the Mannheim orchestra, was to play the solo violin part.

The so-called Violin Concerto No. 7 in D major, K. 271a/271i, may have been completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 16 July 1777 in Salzburg. It has been called the Kolb Concerto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adagio and Rondo for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello</span> Composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Adagio and Rondo, K. 617, is a quintet composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and cello. Completed on May 23, 1791, it was written for Marianne Kirchgessner, a blind glass harmonica virtuoso, who played the first performance in the Burgtheater Akademie on June 10, 1791, and subsequently performed it at the Kärtnertortheater on August 19, 1791.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Rehm</span>

Wolfgang Rehm was a German musicologist active mostly in music publishing, especially the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe. He was on the board of its editorial team for decades, and personally edited operas and piano music. While he worked on it for Bärenreiter in Kassel, he was responsible for the program of the Kasseler Musiktage festival, and after he moved for further work to Salzburg, he shaped the program of the Mozartwoche. He was also a member of the International Association of Music Libraries, Archives and Documentation Centres from 1959 to 1985, and also a founding member and treasurer of the Répertoire International des Sources Musicales data base.

The Concertone for two Violins and Orchestra in C, K. 190 (186e) was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in May 1774.

References

  1. ↑ H. C. Robbins Landon, Mozart's Last Year, 1998, III. 'Concert Life in the Austrian Capital', p. 32
  2. ↑ Lory, Jacques; Zaslaw, Neal (1990). The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. New York: W. W. Norton & Company. pp. 130, 134. ISBN   9780393028867.
  3. ↑ Alan Tyson, "Introduction," in Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major ("Coronation"), K. 537—The Autograph Score. (NY: Pierpont Morgan Library in association with Dover Publications, 1991), pp. vii.
  4. ↑ See Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie V, Werkgruppe 15, Band 8, ed. Wolfgang Rehm (Baerenreiter-Verlag, Kassel, 1960), pp. 47, 56.
  5. ↑ See Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Piano Concertos Nos. 23–27 in Full Score (NY: Dover Publications, 1978), pp. 211, 216.
  6. ↑ This is based on the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe score (Dover reprint as cited above), with consultation of the facsimile of "The Autograph Score" published by Pierpont Morgan Library/Dover Publications (cited above). The facsimile was used to eliminate slurs added by the AMA editors which are not Mozart's, and to identify the notes (left hand) added by André to Mozart's score.
  7. ↑ Tyson, p. viii.
  8. ↑ See Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 26 in D Major ("Coronation"), K. 537—The Autograph Score. (NY: Pierpont Morgan Library in association with Dover Publications, 1991), pp. 8–11; 57–68.
  9. ↑ Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work. Trans. Arthur Mendel and Nathan Broder. (London: Oxford University Press, 1945), p. 314.
  10. 1 2 Einstein, p. 313.
  11. ↑ Peters, Beryl. "Mozart, Piano Concerto No. 26 - Manitoba Chamber Orchestra". The Manitoba Chamber Orchestra. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  12. ↑ Hutchings, A. 1997. A Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos, Oxford University Press. ISBN   0-19-816708-3
  13. ↑ Girdlestone, C. M. 1997. Mozart's piano concertos. Cassell, London. ISBN   0-304-30043-8
  14. ↑ As quoted in Tyson, p. xi.
  15. ↑ "Mitsuko Uchida Discusses Mozart". Classic FM. Retrieved 11 November 2022.

Sources

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.