Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756-1791)

Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219, "Turkish"

Composed 1775

When one thinks of Mozart, one thinks of the gifted composer and keyboard player who gave us countless operas, symphonies, and piano works. But Mozart was also an accomplished violinist and, later, a violist. His father, Leopold, was his first violin teacher and the author of an influential treatise on violin playing. Early in his career, while serving at the Salzburg court, Mozart wrote all five of his violin concerti between 1773 and 1775. The last three were written within just a few weeks at the end of 1775, when Mozart was nineteen.

Mozart’s concerti feature a constant dialogue between soloist and orchestra, with both sharing the presentation of new themes. Like the Rachmaninoff Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini from our previous concerts, this concerto begins with similar misdirection. What seems like a rising arpeggio theme in the orchestra turns out to be the accompaniment to the soloist’s new theme, after an unusual slow Adagio entrance by the soloist. This brisk movement is followed by a lyrical slow movement built around long, singing melodies in a three-part structure.

The rondo finale is where Mozart has his fun. Its recurring rondo theme is a graceful minuet, a French court dance, which returns throughout the movement in increasingly varied ornamentation. Near the middle of the movement the concerto earns its nickname, “Turkish.” European composers of Mozart’s time often evoked Ottoman and other “Oriental” music through loud percussion, reed instruments, and chromaticism. Here, Mozart uses a sudden shift to duple meter, minor tonality, chromatic scales, and low strings playing coll’arco al rovescio (with the bow in reverse), a percussive technique using the wooden part of the bow that would pervade many works of the 20th and 21st century. However, true to rondo form, the stately minuet inevitably returns to end the work with a gesture similar to that of the end of the first movement, as if the music evaporates off the page.

Instrumentation – two oboes, two horns, strings, and solo violin

Duration – 29 minutes