Written by Anna Vorhes

Born
January 27, 1756, Salzburg

Died
December 5, 1791, Vienna

Instrumentation
solo piano, flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings

Duration
29 minutes

Composed
completed March 9, 1785, four weeks after the previous Concerto #20 in D minor

World Premiere
March 12, 1785, at Royal Court Theater, Vienna, with the composer at the keyboard

Something interesting to listen for
When you listen to this, imagine Mozart himself at the keyboard. The first movement is a sprightly march that moves to both expected and unusual keys. The way the orchestra interacts with the soloist features the back and forth of a classical era musical conversation. The second movement is in the slow tempo expected of second movements. Listen especially to the bass accompaniment to this melody throughout the movement. Another interesting thing to hear is how the piano sometimes provides accompaniment to the orchestra as they together explore the luscious melody. The final movement offers a rondo with one melody returning between Mozart’s other inventive melodies. There is an effect of call and response as we move toward the end.

Program Notes

This piano concerto comes from a time when Mozart was at his most popular. He was a performer and composer alike. Hearing him play was a social plus. His complicated relationship with his father was on a bit of a break as the younger composer seemed on the verge of real success. Leopold Mozart visited his son Wolfgang in February and March 1785. Wolfgang and Constanze were already married, and the composer was a darling of society. He performed his own works. Even the critical Leopold couldn’t ignore the fact that Franz Joseph Haydn, the most popular composer in Europe at this time, claimed the younger Mozart was the best composer he knew, filled with genius and tasteful originality.

The first movement of the concerto is set in cut time, implying a march might be the correct style. The movement features an invention of Mozart’s, the double exposition sonata form. In a typical sonata form the orchestra presents the first theme then transitions to a related key for the second theme. In Mozart’s double exposition format the orchestra presents both the first and second themes in the key of the work. The soloist waits without a sound until they are done. Then finally the solo pianist joins, in this case with a flourish of scales and ornamented melodies. As the orchestra and soloist complete the expected repeat of the exposition, the modulation to a new key is accomplished. The development and recapitulation follow. The pianist is given plenty of room to embellish the melody, both in what Mozart committed to the page, and the way that Mozart might have improvised as he worked his way through the movement. We do not have Mozart’s written cadenza for the end of this movement, as he would have improvised it on the spot. Indeed, as a task he set himself young Beethoven wrote cadenzas for all of Mozart’s piano concertos. (A cadenza is a short passage at the end of a concerto movement where the soloist plays without any orchestral accompaniment or involvement.)

The second movement is very familiar. It features a simple melody that is varied without losing its character. The accompaniment also has a sense of permanence with the basses playing lovely arpeggios through much of the work. Listen to how the piano and orchestra intertwine in a fashion closer to the Baroque use of continuo than in most of Mozart’s other works. The piano sometimes adds an accompaniment to the orchestra rather than playing as soloist, much as the continuo pairing of keyboard and low melody instrument did in the earlier era.

The third movement is playful with a main theme that allows other melodies or variations to contrast with it while being present for most of the movement. There is the effect of call and response that makes it so engaging.

The second movement of this concerto has a life outside the concert stage. In the 1960s it was used in the movie Elvira Madigan, a tragic love story, and since then the concerto has been frequently called the Elvira Madigan concerto. It’s been used in a couple other movies, and some people hear the melody of this movement as a source of Neil Diamond’s Song Sung Blue. However the concerto has been used, it stands on its own as one of Mozart’s best offerings to the world of piano.