Piano Concerto No. 8 (Mozart)

Piano Concerto in C major
No. 8 "Lützow"
by W. A. Mozart
The young composer, a 1777 copy of a lost painting
KeyC major
CatalogueK. 246
Composed1776 (1776)
MovementsThree (Allegro, Andante, Rondeau, Tempo di Minuetto)
Scoring
  • Piano
  • orchestra

The Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major, K. 246, or Lützow Concert was written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in April 1776 in the same year as the Haffner Serenade (K. 250).[1] Countess Antonia Lützow, who was 25 or 26 years old at the time, was the second wife of Johann Nepomuk Gottfried Graf Lützow, the Commander of the Hohensalzburg Fortress. She was a fine pianist.[2] The solo work is not highly demanding, but it requires agility. Mozart played the concerto in Mannheim and Munich on October 4, 1777, and used it for teaching. Three cadenzas by Mozart have survived.[3][4][5][6] Kitano concludes that the first two cadenzas, A and B in the Urtext edition, may have been written for the Countess Lützow herself to accommodate her limited technical ability, while cadenza C more resembles what Mozart might have played when he performed the work in Augsburg in 1777.[7]

It is also suggested Mozart wrote a violin concerto for Countess Lützow's brother Johann Rudolph Czernin (and almost the same age as Mozart).[8] Johann Rudolf, his sister and their father were in connection with Mozart at that time, while Mozart was in service of their uncle Count Hieronymus von Colloredo.[9]

Instrumentation

[edit]

The concerto is scored for two oboes, two horns, solo piano and string section.

Movements

[edit]

The concerto, very convenient for beginning performers,[10] is in three movements:

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Hutchings, A. 1997. A Companion to Mozart's Piano Concertos, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816708-3
  2. ^ "Steamed Wildebeest Ensemble - concertos". Archived from the original on 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  3. ^ Mozart, W.A. (1976). Wolff, Christoph (ed.). Band 2: Konzerte für ein oder mehrere Klaviere und Orchester mit Kadenzen [NMA V/15//2]. Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Serie V, Werkgruppe 15 (Wolff ed.). Kassel: Bärenreiter Verlag. pp. 26–7.
  4. ^ Robbins Landon, H. C. (1990) The Mozart Compendium. ISBN 90-439-0312-4 pb.
  5. ^ Critical report, Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
  6. ^ "MOZART: Piano Concertos Nos. 6, 8 and 19 CD - Listen to Naxos Label - Naxos Classics Music - Naxos Direct". Archived from the original on 2008-11-23. Retrieved 2009-09-10.
  7. ^ Kitano, Hsuan Chang (2018-05-16). "Improvisation in Mozart's keyboard music: a performer's approach to his Eingänge and cadenzas". Doctor of Music (Dissertation): 296 – via Indiana University.
  8. ^ Mozartforum Archived 2007-09-26 at the Wayback Machine
  9. ^ The Cambridge Mozart encyclopedia by Cliff Eisen, Simon P. Keefe
  10. ^ Mozarts Klavierkonzerte: Ein musikalischer Werkführer by Marius Flothuis, p. 24
  11. ^ Piano Concertos Nos. 7-10 in Full Score: With Mozart's Cadenzas, p. 8
  12. ^ Structural novelty and tradition in the early romantic piano concerto by Stephan D. Lindeman, p. 273
[edit]