K. 413 Presentation

Hutchings, A Companion to Mozart’s Piano Concertos, pg. 67-72.

Hutchings observes that K. 413 is retrogression in style from the final Salzberg concerto’s, especially k. 271 in Eb (No 9). He also states that the viola is more melodically written, not appearing as if the last written line of harmony, double of the bass, or just intermediary between violins and bass.

Homogeneous (No. 11) – Subjects are not outstanding, forceful, dramatic, or of a prolonged nature
vs.

Melodic (No. 12) – Good tunes that vibrate in the memory because they are fewer in number than the homogeneous type. Melodic concertos begin with a tune, and not a gesture.

Mvmt. 1 – Scoring is not retrogressive – dynamic contrast, crossrhythm with the orchestra, staccato playing that is defiant or auxiliary to the solo. However, solo is more of a sonata style, with left hand accompanying as bass figures and Alberti bass.

Mvmt. 3 – Minuet has AABA form (8+8+8+8). Each 8-bar phrase can be articulated as a 4-bar phrase, to which Mozart can then apply a cookie-cutter technique. “Yet so perfect is the slight of hand that we are never conscious of manipulation. = balance of gallant style, but with deeper, more sophisticated connotations that serious music lovers would extract.

Keefe, Dramatic Dialogue in Mozart’s Viennese Concertos (although 413 is not discussed)

The confusing etymology of the word concerto has often encour- aged critics to identify cooperative and competitive behavior in these works. The term may have derived from any one of three sources: the Latin concertare (to compete, contend), the Italian concertare (to agree, act together), or the Latin conserere (to consort).

Reicha - "There are only the following four ways of dialoguing a melody; first, by executing the full periods alternately [i.e., antecedent plus consequent]; second, by distributing the phrases (or constituent parts of the periods) among the different voices that are to execute the melody; third, by motives [dessins], that is to say, by little imitations; fourth, by starting a phrase with one voice and finishing it with another."

Simon Article - Double Exposition

The analogy between the double exposition of the concerto and the repeated exposition of sonata form does not address their contemporaneous development.

The concerto double exposition does not address the key structure and thematic relationships of sonata form. The tutti usually begins and ends on the tonic (no modulation to the dominant). The solo exposition does not have to repeat the same themes as the tutti exposition.

The formal pattern of ritornello form is when a subject is expanded by modulating sequence or figuration (solo), is then restated in part or in whole in the new key, and is then expanded again. These expanded subjects do not have to be linked to the initial subject, and the keys are not fixed. Even the solos themselves do not have to be related thematically.

Even as the solos of the Classical concerto began to follow a tonal and thematic scheme similar to the exposition, development, and recapitulation of sonata form, the tutti sections destroy these expectations.

**Early concerto – Principal melodic ideas are concentrated in the tuttis. The structure is not dependent on thematic repetition, but on contrast through the alternation of solo and tutti.

**Classical concerto – The tutti and solo exposition are still quite dissimilar. The third tutti section acts as bridge between development and recapitulation. The recap begins to integrate sections of both the tutti and solo expositions.

**Later Classical concerto – The invasion of the final tutti by a solo cadenza shifts focus from tutti to soloist.

Although the later concerto had adapted slightly to contain elements of sonata form (primarily the modulating exposition, the development, and a recapitulation), the focus is still primarily on contrast of timbre and the role of tutti vs. solo, as compared to the sonata’s focus on the contrast between two thematic ideas and keys.

Mozart Concerto in Context: Welcome

Welcome to our class blog. I expect this to be a lively interchange among participants in our seminar--starting today, 17 September 2008. Ah, Mozart! I am trying to arrange it so that anyone in the seminar can post an item for discussion, and anyone can comment on that post.
Good luck!