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 Piano Concerto No. 17 took place in Döbling, Austria, on June 13, 1784, with Barbara Ployer as soloist. Approximate performance time is thirty minutes.
During the mid-1780s, Mozart’s career in Vienna reached its apex. Mozart was then in constant demand as a composer, pianist, and teacher. One of his most lucrative ventures was a series of “academies”—Lenten subscription concerts sponsored by the composer that featured Mozart performing his own music.
In a letter of March 3, 1784, Mozart proudly informed his father, Leopold:
You must forgive me if I don’t write very much, but it is impossible to find time to do so, as I am giving three subscription concerts in Trattner’s room on the last three Wednesdays of Lent, beginning on March 17th...Well, as you can imagine, I must play some new works—and therefore I must compose. The whole morning is taken up with pupils and almost every evening I have to play…Well, haven’t I enough to do? I don’t think that in this way I can possibly get out of practice.
Between the years 1784 and 1786, Mozart composed twelve piano concertos. He wrote most of these for his own performance at subscription concerts. But Mozart composed his Piano Concertos No. 14 in E-flat Major, K. 449, and 17 in G Major, K. 453, for his pupil, Barbara Ployer, daughter of the agent of the Salzburg court in Vienna. Barbara Ployer gave the first performance of the Concerto No. 17 on June 13, 1784, as part of a concert hosted by her father in Döbling, in the northwest of Vienna. The concert also included Mozart’s Quintet for Piano and Winds, K. 452, with the composer at the keyboard, and the Grand Sonata for Two Pianos in D Major, K. 448. The latter work featured the duo of Mozart and Barbara Ployer.
On May 27, six weeks after completing the G-Major Piano Concerto, Mozart purchased a pet starling. In his account book, Mozart noted the purchase price (34 kreuzer), and that the starling was able to sing the principal theme of the Concerto’s finale almost note-for-note. Mozart transcribed the starling’s rendition of the melody, adding: “Das war schön!” (“That was lovely!”).
The Concerto No. 17 is in three movements. The first (Allegro) begins with the traditional orchestral introduction of the principal themes. Once the soloist enters with more elaborate versions of the themes, she remains center stage to the Allegro’s conclusion. The Concerto’s slow-tempo movement (Andante), in ¾ time and in C Major, opens with the first violins singing the melody that serves as a unifying force throughout. The finale (Allegretto) is a series of variations, based upon the sprightly theme introduced at the outset (and sung so ably by Mozart’s pet starling!).
Notes on the Program by Ken Meltzer