Composed: 1791
Premiered: Unknown
Duration: 9 minutes
Mozart composed all or part of six horn concertos. Most of them came into being because of his friendship with soloist Joseph (Ignaz) Leutgeb. They had known each other since the time when they played in the court orchestra of Salzburg. Leutgeb became one of the closest friends Mozart had during his formative years. The horn concertos demonstrate that Leutgeb must have been an agile and poetic performer. No. 1 is the only one that has two movements rather than three, and the only one that isn’t in E-flat Major. Scottish musicologist Alan Tyson has shown that the hunting-style second movement was finished by Mozart’s student Franz Xaver Süssmayr, after Mozart’s death.
Program note by Don Anderson © 2022