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compositions. In a now-famous reprimand, he
implored his son to create more appealing mu-
sic in a “natural, flowing, and easy style,” instead
of complex writing that few could understand.
Leopold cited Johann Christian Bach as a mas-
ter of this lighter musical style.
Their more popularized style bolstered Mozart’s
confidence in his three most recent concertos
(K. 385p/414, 387a/413, and 387b/415)—his first
specifically for Vienna—so much so that he of-
fered the printed scores on a subscription basis.
His father had reservations about the sale price
of eight ducats per concerto. In a letter dated
January 22, 1783, Mozart insisted that his efforts
warranted the cost. Besides, he argued, no one
could have the manuscripts copied (even if they
were available, which they weren’t) for less than
a ducat.
The initial
Wiener Zeitung
(January 15, 1783)
advertisement also indicated that Mozart had
made other accommodations to general usage
by suggesting that the three concertos could be
performed equally well as chamber works, with-
out winds and with only one string player per
part (
a quattro
). According to this notice, the
published music would be released in April, and
tickets were available at the composer’s house.
Leopold’s advice obviously carried some weight,
for the first three subscription announcements
valued the concertos at
six
ducats apiece.
Despite this price reduction, subscriptions did
not measure up to expectations, a fact that Mo-
zart obviously wished to conceal from his father.
Letters home reported only the noteworthy ac-
complishments of the 1782–83 concert season.
The high point was Mozart’s March 23 concert
attended by Emperor Joseph II, who reward-
ed him with 25 ducats. That program included
the “Haffner” symphony, several
scenas
for solo
voice, various symphonic movements, keyboard
improvisations, and the Piano Concerto No. 13
in C major, K. 387b/415. The concerto was re-
peated one month later at another performance
before the emperor.
Slow concerto subscriptions impacted Mozart’s
finances, as he explained in a letter (February 15,
1783) to Baroness von Waldstädten. He evi-
dently owed a debt to Johann Thomas Trattner,
husband of his pupil Theresia von Trattner and
owner of the Trattnerhof, the large residential
dwelling where he lived and held benefit con-
certs. “If I could have foreseen that the sub-
scriptions for my concertos would come in so
slowly,” he confessed to the baroness, “I should
have raised the money on a longer time-limit.”
Mozart’s letter continued with a humble plea for
financial assistance to “keep my honor and my
good name.”
The mixed experiences of this concert season
taught Mozart a great deal about professional
life in Vienna. Public concerts featuring him
as composer and performer netted the largest
profits. Since the imperial court theaters were
only available for one major performance each
season, Mozart reaped the benefits of presenting
concerts in alternative venues. He produced ad-
ditional income by organizing concerts for other
performers. The least successful business enter-
prise involved promotion of his own composi-
tions through subscriptions. Ironically, the three
piano concertos Mozart had difficulty subscrib-
ing on his own sold quite well once published
by Artaria.
A heavily edited manuscript attests to the hard
labor that Mozart invested in the Piano Concer-
to No. 12 in A major, K. 385p/414. He replaced
the original finale—the Rondo in A major,
K. 386—with another rondo movement. Quite
unusually, the composer left two complete sets
of piano cadenzas. Standard melodic material,
such as a broken-chord outline and “Scottish
snap” rhythm, are combined in the
Allegro
’s first
theme. Two more delicate themes appear before
the piano entrance. The keyboard presents its
own version of these melodies, inserting a new
theme all its own. Solo writing dominates the
development and much of the recapitulation.
The piano plays a cadenza before a final orches-
tral phrase.
Mozart might have composed his
Andante
as a
memorial to Johann Christian Bach, the “Lon-
don Bach,” who had died on January 1, 1782. The
main theme, performed by the strings alone,
comes from Bach’s overture for the London
revival of
La calamità de’ cuori
, an opera by
Baldassari Galuppi. The piano plays a light em-
bellishment of the theme in its first variation.
A middle variation turns to minor. The final
variation follows the solo piano cadenza. The
boisterous
Rondo
finale perfectly fits Mozart’s
description of this concerto to his father: bril-
liant, pleasing, and natural. The orchestra and
keyboard share themes more equally in this
movement than the previous two. Piano “lead-
ins” precede several statements of the refrain. As
in the
Allegro
, a solo cadenza occurs just before
the closing orchestral segment.
In the 19th century, several of Mozart’s piano
concertos were arranged for piano, string quar-
tet, and double bass by Ignaz Lachner (1807–95).
Ignaz belonged to an accomplished family of
musicians. He and three brothers—Theodor,
Franz, and Vincenz—studied with their father,
Anton, before venturing into the professional
world of music. At the age of 15, Ignaz joined
the Isartor Theater in Munich as first violinist.
He moved to Vienna in 1826 to work alongside
Franz, eventually succeeding his brother as or-
ganist at the Lutheran church and becoming
assistant Kapellmeister at the Kärntnertorthe-
ater. Ignaz’s conducting took him to Stuttgart,
Munich, Hamburg, Stockholm, and Frank-
furt, where he remained until his retirement
in 1875. Ignaz became part of a consortium of
musicians who arranged Mozart’s piano concer-
tos for chamber ensemble at the behest of Sig-
mund Lebert, the pianist and pedagogue who
co-founded the Stuttgarter Musikschule in 1857.
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)
Fantasy in F minor,
D
. 940
See page 98 for program notes.
MAURICE RAVEL (1875–1937)
La valse
(arranged for four-hands piano by Lucien Garban)
See page 99 for program notes.
Lucien Garban (1877–1959)—French composer,
arranger, and a member of the underground
group of Parisian artists known as the Société
des Apaches, or Les Apaches—arranged
La valse
for four-hands piano in 1920.
–Program notes © 2018 Todd E. Sullivan
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart by Joseph Lange (1782)
Leopold Mozart by Pietro Lorenzoni (c. 1765)
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