Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, on January 27, 1756, and died in Vienna, Austria, on December 5, 1791. The first performance of the Concerto No. 27 took place in Vienna on March 4, 1791, with the composer as soloist. In addition to the solo piano, the Concerto No. 27 is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. Approximate performance time is thirty-two minutes.

Mozart’s career in Vienna as a composer and virtuoso pianist reached its apex in the mid-1780s. Between the years 1784 and 1786, Mozart wrote no fewer than twelve Piano Concertos that were usually premiered in concerts sponsored by the composer, known as “academies.” In March of 1784, Mozart offered the premiere of his B-Flat Concerto for Piano and Orchestra, K. 450 at three subscription concerts included among the nineteen he presented that month alone. In a letter to his father, Leopold, written in February of the same year, Mozart proudly exclaimed: “The whole morning is given over to my pupils, and nearly every evening I have to play...Have I not enough to do? I do not think I shall get out of practice in these circumstances...”

The exhilaration of those triumphant years in Vienna soon yielded to profound frustration and unhappiness. Demands for Mozart’s services as composer, performer, and teacher declined. Mozart was soon reduced to begging for money from acquaintances, principally Michael Puchberg, a fellow-Mason and ardent music lover. Several of Mozart’s letters to Puchberg have survived, and they tragically document the composer’s humiliating circumstances.

After the premiere of his Piano Concerto in C, K. 503, on December 4, 1786, Mozart composed only two more works in that genre—the 1788 Concerto in D, known as the “Coronation,” and the B-flat Major Concerto, K. 595, completed and premiered in the last year of the composer’s life. The precipitate decline in Mozart’s fortunes is further illustrated by the fact that the first performance (with the composer as soloist) of this glorious work took place on March 4, 1791 at a concert given by the clarinetist Joseph Bähr. By that time, Mozart was unable to rally the support necessary to present one of his own academies.

Still, the B-flat Concerto, like the opera Die Zauberflöte, the Clarinet Concerto, the final two String Quintets and the unfinished Requiem, demonstrate that Mozart was capable of creating some of his most accomplished and profoundly beautiful music in the midst of intense personal misfortune. It is often fanciful to presume that music reflects the composer’s circumstances at the time of its creation. But there is no question that the B-Flat Piano Concerto eschews virtuoso display for an often heartbreaking introspection and restraint. Even the tripping Rondo finale seems to offer hints of a wistful nostalgia. While there is no reason to believe that Mozart intended the B-flat Piano Concerto to be his last, it is a fitting summation of a body of works in which he triumphed both as composer and interpreter.

The Concerto is in three movements. The first (Allegro) features the traditional dual presentation of the principal themes, initially by the orchestra alone, then joined by the soloist. The slow-tempo second movement (Larghetto) in A—B—A form, recalls some of the composer’s most eloquent operatic writing, with the pianist serving as vocalist. The rondo finale (Allegro) is based upon a recurring theme, introduced at the outset by the soloist. The theme also appears in Mozart’s song, Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling (“Yearning for Spring”), K. 596 (1791):

Come, sweet May, and make

the trees green again,

and by the brook make

the little violets bloom for me!

Program notes by Ken Meltzer