Although the actual date of composition of this concerto is uncertain, this is one of the first known to have been completely composed by Mozart. His first piano concertos were transcriptions and arrangements of works by other composers, including C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach and others. It is also Mozart’s only concerto for two pianos and is clearly reminiscent of his childhood and adolescence when he and his sister Maria Anna (“Nannerl”) were carted all over Europe as performing Wunderkinder. Although the siblings’ prodigy days were long over, they continued to perform together. In this capacity, they probably performed the E-flat concerto in 1780 at court for one of Mozart’s final concerts in Salzburg, along with the Sonata for Piano Four Hands, K. 381. A two-piano transcription of the Concerto No. 7 for Three Pianos also dates from this period, as does a group of piano sonatas for piano four-hands (a medium “invented” by the brother-sister team). 

That same year, Mozart left his hometown forever to pursue his dream of a prestigious court appointment. He traveled first to Munich, where he had been commissioned to compose the opera Idomeneo, and then on to Vienna. While never attaining his original goal, he made his mark in the capital as music history’s first true freelance composer.

In the Concerto for Two Pianos, the tasks are evenly divided. The soloists mostly play in dialogue, echoing or answering each other. In contrast to compositions for piano four hands, where per force one of the players takes the lower range and the other the higher, both soloists here cover the entire range of the piano, which at the time was limited to five octaves. 

The Concerto anticipates the structure typical of the composer’s later great piano concertos. The first movement, Allegro, is in classic sonata form; the fanfare-like opening theme plus all the exposition material introduced by the orchestra is then repeated and expanded by the pianos. Because this is a work for two solo instruments, Mozart sometimes has the first soloist present a motive with the second soloist repeating it in slightly varied form; at other times, one piano will begin a phrase, while the second completes it. Neither instrument is dominant.

The Andante prefigures Mozart’s later concerti, opening with a deceptively simple theme. But Mozart goes on to pile one beautiful melody onto another to create a poignant statement whose intensity is enhanced by the orchestra’s two oboes. 

The ethereal spell is broken by the sprightly Rondeau: Allegro. The rondo theme alternates with episodes in which the two pianos chase each other all over the movement. 

Originally scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings, Mozart added two clarinets, two trumpets and timpani to the outer movements for two private performances in Vienna in November 1781 with his pupil and patron Josepha Barbara von Auernhammer as second pianist. That version, however, is lost.

Program notes by:
Joseph & Elizabeth Kahn
Wordpros@mindspring.com
www.wordprosmusic.com