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."