Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Composer (1756–1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture".
Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. Mozart's search for employment led to positions in Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and again in Salzburg, during which he wrote his five violin concertos, Sinfonia Concertante, and Concerto for Flute and Harp, as well as sacred pieces and masses, the motet "Exsultate Jubilate", and the opera "Idomeneo," among other works.
While visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During Mozart's early years in Vienna, he produced several notable works, such as the opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", the "Great Mass in C minor", the "Haydn" Quartets and a number of symphonies. Throughout his Vienna years, Mozart composed over a dozen piano concertos, many considered some of his greatest achievements. In the final years of his life, Mozart wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies, culminating in the "Jupiter" Symphony, the serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", his Clarinet Concerto, the operas "The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", "Così fan tutte" and "The Magic Flute" and his Requiem. The Requiem was largely unfinished at the time of his death at age 35, the circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologised.
Life and career.
Early life.
Family and childhood.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg. Salzburg was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in the Holy Roman Empire (today in Austria). He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinised form, as "Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart". He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants.
Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as the fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg. Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a violin textbook, "Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule", which achieved success.
When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on. Years later, after her brother's death, she reminisced:
He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time... At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.
These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the "Nannerl Notenbuch". There is some scholarly debate about whether Mozart was four or five years old when he created his first musical compositions, though there is little doubt that Mozart composed his first three pieces of music within a few weeks of each other: K. 1a, 1b, and 1c.
In his early years, Wolfgang's father was his only teacher. Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects. Biographer Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught. His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his initiative and came as a surprise to Leopold, who eventually gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident.
1762–73: Travel.
While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen and again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Wolfgang met many musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly significant influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by his father.
The family trips were often challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764), then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765). The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.
After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home. This tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. There exists a myth, according to which, while in Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere" twice in performance in the Sistine Chapel. Allegedly, he subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorised copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican". However, both the origin and plausibility of this account are disputed.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera "Mitridate, re di Ponto" (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of "Ascanio in Alba" (1771) and "Lucio Silla" (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped and Leopold's hopes were never realised. Toward the end of the journey, Mozart wrote the solo motet "Exsultate, jubilate", K.165.
1773–77: Employment at the Salzburg court.
After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer had many friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas. Between April and December 1775, Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five (the only ones he ever wrote), which steadily increased in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are now staples of the repertoire. In 1776, he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E♭ concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.
Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontented with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theatre was closed, especially since the other theatre in Salzburg was primarily reserved for visiting troupes.
Two long expeditions in search of work interrupted this long Salzburg stay. Mozart and his father visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich from 6December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera "La finta giardiniera".
1777–78: Journey to Paris.
In August 1777, Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich.
Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother was taken ill and died on 3July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds. Mozart stayed with Melchior Grimm at Marquise d'Épinay's residence, 5 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin.
While Mozart was in Paris, his father was pursuing opportunities of employment for him in Salzburg. With the support of the local nobility, Mozart was offered a post as court organist and concertmaster. The annual salary was 450 florins, but he was reluctant to accept. By that time, relations between Grimm and Mozart had cooled, and Mozart moved out. After leaving Paris in September 1778 for Strasbourg, he lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally returned to Salzburg on 15 January 1779 and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished.
Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata, K. 310/300d, the "Paris" Symphony (No. 31), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June 1778; and the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299/297c.
Vienna.
1781: Departure.
In January 1781, Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. For Colloredo, this was simply a matter of wanting his musical servant to be at hand (Mozart indeed was required to dine in Colloredo's establishment with the valets and cooks). He planned a bigger career as he continued in the archbishop's service; for example, he wrote to his father:
My main goal right now is to meet the emperor in some agreeable fashion, I am absolutely determined he should get to know me. I would be so happy if I could whip through my opera for him and then play a fugue or two, for that's what he likes.
Mozart did indeed soon meet the Emperor, who eventually was to support his career substantially with commissions and a part-time position.
In the same letter to his father just quoted, Mozart outlined his plans to participate as a soloist in the concerts of the "Tonkünstler-Societät", a prominent benefit concert series; this plan as well came to pass after the local nobility prevailed on Colloredo to drop his opposition.
Colloredo's wish to prevent Mozart from performing outside his establishment was in other cases carried through, raising the composer's anger; one example was a chance to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary.
The quarrel with the archbishop came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer.
The quarrel with Colloredo was more difficult for Mozart because his father sided against him. Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Mozart's father exchanged intense letters with his son, urging him to be reconciled with their employer. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself both of his employer and of his father's demands to return. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life.
Early years.
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved considerable success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and thoroughly established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet.
Marriage and children.
After failing to win the hand of Aloysia Weber, who was now married to the actor and artist Joseph Lange, Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter of the family, Constanze.
The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April 1782, over an episode involving jealousy (Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game). Mozart also faced a very difficult task getting permission for the marriage from his father, Leopold.
The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis. Daniel Heartz suggests that eventually, Constanze moved in with Mozart, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time. Mozart wrote to Leopold on 31 July 1782, "All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has already gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question." Heartz relates, "Constanze's sister Sophie had tearfully declared that her mother would send the police after Constanze if she did not return home [presumably from Mozart's apartment]." On 4 August, Mozart wrote to Baroness von Waldstätten, asking: "Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way? Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today."
The couple were finally married on 4August 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail. In the marriage contract, Constanze "assigns to her bridegroom five hundred gulden which ... the latter has promised to augment with one thousand gulden", with the total "to pass to the survivor". Further, all joint acquisitions during the marriage were to remain the common property of both.
The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:
1782–87.
In 1782 and 1783, Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in the Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in fugal passages in "Die Zauberflöte" ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No. 41.
In 1783, Mozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg. His father and sister were cordially polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.
Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784, and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn wrote, "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years" and in 1785 told Mozart's father: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."
From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as a soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant. The concerts were very popular, and his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period, Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".
With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school and kept servants. During this period Mozart saved little of his income.
On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an essential role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions, he composed Masonic music, e.g. the Maurerische Trauermusik.
1786–87: Return to opera.
Despite the great success of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act "Der Schauspieldirektor". He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The year 1786 saw the successful premiere of "Le nozze di Figaro" in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera "Don Giovanni", which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, but less success in Vienna during 1788. The two are among Mozart's most famous works and are mainstays of operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty both for listeners and for performers. These developments were not witnessed by Mozart's father, who had died on 28 May 1787.
In December 1787, Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal (see "Mozart and dance"). This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.
In 1787, the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met.
Later years.
1788–90.
Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786, he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because of the Austro-Turkish War: both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined. According to Solomon, in 1788, Mozart saw a 66% decline in his income compared to his best years in 1781.
By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been suggested that Mozart aimed to reduce his rental expenses by moving to a suburb, as he wrote in his letter to Michael von Puchberg, Mozart had not reduced his expenses but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow mason Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems his musical output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, "Così fan tutte", premiered in 1790.
Around this time, Mozart made some long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789, and Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790.
1791.
Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera "The Magic Flute"; the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B♭); the Clarinet Concerto K. 622; the last in his series of string quintets (K. 614 in E♭); the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618; and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.
Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg and began to pay off his debts.
He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably "The Magic Flute" (which was performed several times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 17 November 1791.
Final illness and death.
Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6September 1791, of his opera "La clemenza di Tito", which was written in that same year on commission for Emperor Leopold II's coronation festivities. He continued his professional functions for some time and conducted the premiere of "The Magic Flute" on 30 September. His health deteriorated on 20 November, at which point he became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.
Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her youngest sister and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. He was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem, but the evidence that he dictated passages to his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr is minimal.
Mozart died in his home on at 12:55 am. The "New Grove" describes his funeral:
Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Otto Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.
The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; the graves of aristocrats were not.
The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment.
Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer; memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen, and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Appearance and character.
Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly in his "Reminiscences": "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique... He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. Of his voice, his wife later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic."
He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Based on paintings that researchers were able to find of Mozart, he seemed to wear a white wig for most of his formal occasions—researchers of the Salzburg Mozarteum declared that only one of his fourteen portraits they had found showed him without his wig.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's, these are mostly not preserved, as his wife sought to destroy them after his death.
Mozart lived at the centre of the Viennese musical world and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his elder colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.
He enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He had a startling fondness for scatological humour, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, and in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. He had an ear for languages, and having travelled all over Europe as a boy, was fluent in Latin, Italian, and French in addition to his native Salzburg dialect of German. He possibly also understood and spoke some English, having jokingly written "You are an ass" after his 19-year-old student Thomas Attwood made a thoughtless mistake on his exercise papers.
Mozart was raised a Catholic and remained a devout member of the Church throughout his life. He embraced the teachings of Freemasonry in 1784.
Works, musical style, and innovations.
Style.
Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the "style galant", a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularised the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, as well as dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera "Don Giovanni". Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:
It is only through recognising the violence and sensuality at the centre of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterisation of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.
During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his "String Quartet in C major", K. 465 (1785), whose introduction abounds in chromatic suspensions, giving rise to the work's nickname, the "Dissonance" quartet.
Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J. C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J. C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.
As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the "Sturm und Drang" ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.
Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as "Le nozze di Figaro", "Don Giovanni", and "Così fan tutte"; opera seria, such as "Idomeneo"; and Singspiel, of which "Die Zauberflöte" is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone colour, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here, his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Köchel catalogue.
For unambiguous identification of works by Mozart, a "Köchel catalogue number" is used. This is a unique number assigned, in regular chronological order, to every one of his known works. A work is referenced by the abbreviation "K." or "KV" followed by this number. The first edition of the catalogue was completed in 1862 by Ludwig von Köchel. It has since been repeatedly updated, as scholarly research improves knowledge of the dates and authenticity of individual works.
Instruments.
Although some of Mozart's early pieces were written for harpsichord, he also became acquainted in his early years with fortepianos made by Regensburg builder Franz Jakob Späth. Later when Mozart was visiting Augsburg, he was impressed by Stein fortepianos and shared this in a letter to his father. On 22 October 1777, Mozart had premiered his triple-piano concerto, K. 242, on instruments provided by Stein. The Augsburg Cathedral organist Demmler was playing the first, Mozart the second and Stein the third part. In 1783, when living in Vienna he purchased an instrument by Walter. Leopold Mozart confirmed the attachment which Mozart had with his Walter fortepiano: "It is impossible to describe the hustle and bustle. Your brother's pianoforte has been moved at least twelve times from his house to the theatre or to someone else's house."
Influence.
His most famous pupil was Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of a classical musician's training.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn and travelled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study with the older composer. Some of have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.
Composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Fernando Sor's Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart (1821), Mikhail Glinka's Variations on a Theme from Mozart's Opera "The Magic Flute" (1822), Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from "Don Giovanni" (1827), and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who revered Mozart, wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to him.
References.
Citations.
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Sources.
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Further reading.
"See for an extensive bibliography"
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External links.
Digitized documents
Sheet music

Oboe Concerto (Mozart)
Concerto for oboe and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Oboe Concerto in C major, K. 314 (271k), was composed in the spring or summer of 1777, for the oboist Giuseppe Ferlendis (1755–1802) from Bergamo. In 1778, Mozart re-worked it as a concerto for flute in D major. The concerto is a widely studied piece for both instruments and is one of the most important concertos in the oboe repertoire.
Movements.
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As with his Flute Concerto No. 1, the piece is orchestrated for a standard string section (violin I/II, viola and cello/double bass doubling the bass line), two oboes, and two horns in D/C. The first and last movements are in the home key of C major, while the second movement is in the subdominant key of F major.
The piece is divided into three movements:
Flute Concerto No. 2.
The Flute Concerto No. 2 in D major, K. 314 (285d) is an adaptation of the original oboe concerto. Dutch flautist Ferdinand Dejean (1731–1797) commissioned Mozart for four flute quartets and three flute concerti, of which Mozart only completed three quartets and one new flute concerto. Instead of creating a new second concerto, Mozart rearranged the oboe concerto he had written a year earlier as the second flute concerto, although with substantial changes for it to fit with what the composer deemed flute-like. However, Dejean did not pay Mozart for this concerto because it was based on the oboe concerto.
Origin.
In the 1800s and early 1900s, the oboe concerto was presumed to be lost, while the flute concerto in D remained known. The oboe concerto was rediscovered by Bernhard Paumgartner in 1920, who found a handwritten set of parts in the Salzburg Mozarteum archives, and recognized the similarity with the flute concerto in D. Alfred Einstein, editor of the third edition of the Köchel catalogue (1937), noted that both a D major and a C major copy of the K. 314 concerto existed in the library of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. From this and also from Paumgartner's discovery, Einstein concluded that the concerto was originally for oboe. The priority of the oboe version is supported by Mozart's letters, as well as various evidence from the music itself. For example, according to Einstein in his "Mozart: His Character, His Work" and Paumgartner in his "Mozart-Jahrbuch", the violins in the D major version never go below the A on the G string, suggesting that C major was the original key and D major was a transposition. For the same reason, the violas in the D major version never go below the D on the C string.
No autograph score has survived. The only known autograph fragment consists of nine measures discovered in 1971, partly duplicating the Oboe Concerto in C major and partly proceeding with previously unknown material.
See also.
The first movement of Mozart's unfinished Oboe Concerto in F major, K. 293 (1778) has been completed by the Mozart scholar and pianist Robert D. Levin, and by the musicologist William Drabkin in 2015.
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach)
The Oboe Concerto in E-flat major is an oboe concerto by Carl Phillip Emanuel Bach composed in 1765.
Structure.
The work is scored for solo oboe, strings and continuo in three movements:
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Carter)
The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer Elliott Carter. The work was commissioned by the conductor Paul Sacher for the oboist Heinz Holliger. It was first performed in Zürich, June 17, 1988, by Heinz Holliger and the Collegium Musicum Zürich under the conductor John Carewe.
Composition.
The Oboe Concerto has a duration of roughly 25 minutes and is composed in one continuous movement.
Instrumentation.
The concerto is scored for solo oboe and a small orchestra divided into two groups. The concertino group consists of the oboe, violas, and a percussionist. The larger group comprises flute (doubling piccolo, alto flute), clarinet (doubling bass clarinet), horn, trombone, one additional percussionist, and strings (violins I & II, violoncellos, and double basses).
Reception.
Conductor David Robertson said of the work:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />In between this orchestra — that seems to be resembling nothing so much as the speed with which the brain can put connections together between its millions of neurons — the oboe weaves an incredible line of plaintive sounds and happy and joyous melodies, with calm immediately being disturbed and then irrupting into something else. And it makes for a tremendous ride for everyone, in terms of just how large the palette of expression and musical vocabulary is. Because there are these moments at which he can achieve a kind of glacial calm, and other moments where — even when you know the work very well — there seems to be so much going on that it's almost like a whirlwind of information hitting you at a very rapid pace. And it's that huge amount of descriptive ability which makes him unique among American composers, and the diversity of it reflects something that Carter understood about the American experience.
Alan Rich of "Entertainment Weekly" was more critical of the piece, saying, "Where is the passion in this music, the secret messages from composer to hearer that tell us why idea number two is the logical outgrowth of idea number one? This is music that lends itself to exhilarating performances (as here), with little to justify it all taking place."
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Vaughan Williams)
1944 oboe concerto by Vaughan Williams
The Concerto in A minor for Oboe and Strings was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1943–44 for the oboist Léon Goossens, to whom the score is dedicated.
History.
Vaughan Williams began work on the Oboe Concerto in 1943, immediately after completing the Fifth Symphony, with which it shares a great deal. Amongst other things, the concerto began as a revision of a scherzo movement originally intended for the symphony. The concerto was first performed by Leon Goosens accompanied by the Oxford Symphony Orchestra conducted by Thomas Armstrong on 8th March 1944 in Oxford Town Hall. The concerto was to have been performed at a Proms concert on 5 July 1944, but due to the threat of V1 rocket raids on London the Proms season was curtailed. The piece was played in Liverpool instead, on 30 September 1944 in a concert by the Liverpool Philharmonic, conducted by Malcolm Sargent, that also included the Oboe Concerto by the soloist's brother, Eugène Goossens.
Analysis.
This pastoral piece is divided into three movements:
The concerto has an element of cyclic form. Each movement begins and ends with the same pentatonic theme, spanning an octave. It is scored for a solo oboe and strings.
References.
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Sources
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Further reading.
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Oboe Concerto (MacMillan)
The Oboe Concerto is a composition for solo oboe and orchestra by the Scottish composer James MacMillan. The work was commissioned by the Britten Sinfonia and was first performed at the Birmingham Town Hall on 15 October 2010 by the oboist Nicholas Daniel and the Britten Sinfonia under MacMillan. The Oboe Concerto piece is dedicated to Nicholas Daniel and the Britten Sinfonia.
Composition.
The Oboe Concerto has a duration of roughly 23 minutes and is composed in three numbered movements. MacMillan described the movements in the score programme notes, writing:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />
Instrumentation.
The work is scored for solo oboe and an orchestra comprising two flutes, cor anglais, two clarinets, bassoon, contrabassoon, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings.
Reception.
David Honigmann of the "Financial Times" highly praised the concerto, saying, "Oboists may feel ruefully that musical history owes them a showpiece. They have one now: James MacMillan's "Oboe Concerto" turns the soloist into a nimble-footed musical athlete, a star opera singer, a dazzling Highland dancer, all in the space of three varied movements." Warwick Arnold of "Limelight" similarly described the piece as "a bold virtuosic work that should prove popular with both players and audiences." Michael Dervan of "The Irish Times" further wrote:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />The Scottish and Irish traditional music influences in James MacMillan's 2012 short orchestral monody, "One", provide an effective link to the same composer's 2010 Oboe Concerto. Here, the outer movements echo some of the frolicking of the Vaughan Williams (concerto), though in a fully contemporary way. The piece's heart is an intense, keening Largo, developing material written in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. The always-inspirational Nicholas Daniel, for whom it was written, rates it as more difficult than the concerto by Elliott Carter.
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Strauss)
1945 musical composition by Richard Strauss
The Concerto in D major for Oboe and Small Orchestra, AV 144, TrV 292, was written by Richard Strauss in 1945. It was one of the last works he composed near the end of his life, during what is often described by biographers, journalists and music critics as his "Indian summer."
Inception and premiere.
American oboist John de Lancie was a corporal in the U.S. Army unit which secured the area round the Bavarian town of Garmisch where Strauss was living in April 1945, in the closing days of World War II. As principal oboist of the Pittsburgh Orchestra in civilian life, he knew Strauss's orchestral writing for oboe thoroughly, visited the composer in his home, and in the course of a long conversation asked him if he had ever considered writing an oboe concerto. Strauss answered simply "No", and the topic was dropped. However, in the months to follow, the idea grew on him and he completed the short score of his Oboe Concerto on September 14, 1945, finishing the orchestration on October 25. The work was premiered on 26 February 1946 in Zürich, featuring Marcel Saillet as soloist with the Tonhalle Orchester conducted by Volkmar Andreae. The British premiere was at the Proms on 17 September 1946 with the oboist Léon Goossens and the BBC symphony orchestra conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. As the concerto was being prepared for print in early 1948, Strauss revised and expanded its last-movement coda. The first recording was made in 1948 with Goossens and the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Alceo Galliera (in the version without the final revisions).
John de Lancie had been astonished to see that Strauss was indeed publishing an oboe concerto. Strauss saw to it that the rights to the U.S. premiere were assigned to de Lancie, who after the war had switched to the Philadelphia Orchestra and was only a junior member there. Protocol made de Lancie's performing the premiere impossible since the Philadelphia Orchestra's principal oboist had priority. De Lancie instead gave the rights to the U.S. premiere to a young oboist friend at the CBS Symphony Orchestra in New York, Mitch Miller, who later became famous as a music producer and host of a sing-along TV show.
John de Lancie later became the principal oboist for the Philadelphia Orchestra. His only public performance of the Concerto was the company premiere of the piece on August 30, 1964 at the Interlochen Center for the Arts in Michigan, with Eugene Ormandy conducting. In 1987, de Lancie had the opportunity to record the work he helped inspire with a small orchestra identified only as "Chamber Orchestra" conducted by Max Wilcox on the RCA label.
Instrumentation.
The concerto is scored for oboe solo with an orchestra of 2 flutes, cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings.
Structure.
The concerto consists of three interconnected movements and lasts around 25 minutes:
Analysis.
The tonal disposition of the movements is D major, B-flat major, D major. Juergen May has observed that "it is obvious that Strauss takes as his point of departure here the Classical and early-Romantic models of his musical youth. The composer looks back to a past aesthetic from the perspective of someone who has lived through the paradigm changes of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In this sense one might call the last works of Strauss postmodern."
As with his other late works, Strauss builds up the music from a series of small melodic ideas "which are the point of departure for the development of the entire composition." The concerto is built up from three main thematic elements. The first is the 4 semiquavers D–E–D–E which opens the piece in the cellos. The second is a long note (minim) followed a playful figure of shorter durational values (semi-quavers). The third is a repetition short-short-short long followed by different variants of continuations. This motif echoes the rhythm of the Fate motif of Beethoven's Fifth symphony and "clearly refers to "Metamorphosen", completed just before the Oboe Concerto – a remarkable example of the thematic links between the last instrumental works". However, it also relates back to Strauss's use of the rhythm of the Fate motif in the first movement of his youthful Piano Sonata written over 60 years earlier in 1881. The finale ends with a surprise: after the second cadenza, Strauss concludes with a dance-like Allegro in 6/8 meter which comes across as a fourth movement with a character of its own.
References.
Notes
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Sources

Oboe Concerto (Rouse)
Oboe concerto by Christopher Rouse
The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for oboe and orchestra by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Orchestra and completed in 2004. The piece premiered in 2009 with oboist Basil Reeve and the Minnesota Orchestra performing under conductor Osmo Vanska.
Composition.
The Oboe Concerto is composed in three connected movements, following the traditional fast-slow-fast form. A five-note chord introduced by the strings at the beginning of the piece lays the groundwork for much of the harmonic material of the concerto.
Inspiration.
Rouse designed the piece as a non-programmatic work, commenting in the score notes:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />Unlike some of my other concerti, there is no overt program to this piece. It aims of course to explore the capabilities of the oboe, of which the first in everyone's mind is its capacity to play long, lyrical lines. However, to compose a score that would only concern itself with this aspect of the oboe would be to deny the instrument's more virtuosic attributes, and so there are plenty of moments when the soloist is asked to play music requiring substantial agility. Notwithstanding the fast — sometimes extremely fast! — music that abounds in the work, I feel that there is an overall feeling of coloristic romanticism in the concerto, especially in the central slow movement.
Despite this, principal oboist Liang Wang of the New York Philharmonic, who performed the concerto's New York City premiere, said, "I think this is certainly a love story. And it captures some of the best qualities of the oboe, which is if you just take one note it can give you many different colors."
Instrumentation.
The concerto is scored for solo oboe and an orchestra comprising two flutes, piccolo (doubling alto flute), two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, three trombones, percussion (three players), harp, celesta, and strings (violins I & II, violas, violoncellos, and double basses).
Reception.
Reviewing the 2013 New York City premiere of the piece, Steve Smith of "The New York Times" commented, "...few living composers rival Mr. Rouse’s knack for the grotesque, the elemental and the bombastic. And the oboe, for all its politesse, is capable of producing positively hideous multiphonics and other unorthodox effects. [...] But in Mr. Rouse’s concerto, the principal test for the soloist is to produce seemingly endless lines that float weightless over aural backgrounds that shimmer and sigh in summer-afternoon languor." David Patrick Stearns of "The Philadelphia Inquirer" praised the concerto as "distinguished" and said, "Sonorities seemed like characters: Muted brass seemed simultaneously comic and ominous. Hushed string chords didn't point in any further direction but bristled with an energy that suggests the piece could explode at any time. Harp and celesta added dreamy touches that could turn nightmarish." Stearns continued, "The younger Rouse wrote music that went to many extremes. Here, extremes are more implied possibilities, and are just as powerful. Though the oboe writing was full of animation, the best moments felt more like an invocation (in the incantatory sense of the word)."
Fellow composer James Primosch of the University of Pennsylvania also praised the work, saying, "I was most taken with the slow music – exquisite colors, both in the sense of harmony and of orchestral timbre. The contrasting fast playful sections are brilliant, but it was the ecstatic stillness supporting the intensely lyrical Woodhams oboe that was most striking."
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Harbison)
Oboe concerto by John Harbison
The Oboe Concerto is a composition for solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer John Harbison. The work was commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony for its principal oboist William Bennett. It was completed on October 18, 1991, and was given its world premiere by Bennett and the San Francisco Symphony under the conductor Herbert Blomstedt in 1992.
Composition.
The concerto has a duration of roughly 21 minutes and is composed in three connected movements:
Instrumentation.
The work is scored for a solo oboe and a large orchestra comprising two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), two clarinets, alto saxophone (doubling bass clarinet), two bassoons, contrabassoon (doubling 3rd bassoon), two horns, two trumpets, two trombones, tuba, timpani, three percussionists, harp, and strings.
Reception.
The Oboe Concerto has been praised by music critics. Peter Dickinson of "Gramophone" wrote, "The Oboe Concerto [...] is unusual in creating a jazz personality, including real bent notes, for the soloist—notably in the bluesy section of the first movement from 3'15"—and big band effects in the finale. Harbison creates a series of decorative panels, almost Poulenc's technique (especially in the finale at 4'44"), skilfully laid out and often with an energy..." Allan Kozinn of "The New York Times" further remarked:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />As modern oboe concertos go, Mr. Harbison's piece is less exotic than John Corigliano's and less dramatic than Elliott Carter's, but it has charms of its own. Mostly they were subtler than one expects a concerto's charms to be. In music that was alternately lyrical and rich in chromatic detail, Mr. Bennett was given room to stretch, but rarely to shine over the orchestra. The piece's most interesting movement was its finale, in which Mr. Harbison first embraces a 1940's style of jazz orchestration and then transforms it into his own symphonic style. But here again, Mr. Bennett's solo line was often a strand in the texture, not a shining ray.
References.
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Oboe concerto
A number of concertos (as well as non-concerto works) have been written for the oboe, both as a solo instrument as well as in conjunction with other solo instrument(s), and accompanied by string orchestra, chamber orchestra, full orchestra, concert band, or similar large ensemble.
These include concertos by the following composers:
Baroque.
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Classical.
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Modern/Contemporary.
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Oboe Concerto (Bellini)
The Oboe Concerto in E-flat major is an oboe concerto by Vincenzo Bellini, most likely composed in 1823. Bellini's only surviving concerto, the piece is also an important part of his limited instrumental output. Performances typically last between seven and eight minutes.
Background.
In 1819, at the age of eighteen, Bellini received a scholarship to the Conservatorio di San Sebastiano in Naples. He composed the Oboe Concerto during his studies. "Gramophone" called the piece "a product of his youth". Some other works composed by Bellini during the period included sacred music and fifteen symphonies (six of which are lost). In addition, fragments exist for two other concertos for woodwind instruments composed around the time: a bassoon concerto in G major that remains incomplete and a draft for a flute concerto in A major.
Structure and analysis.
The work is scored for solo oboe and an orchestra consisting of two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, and strings. It is in one movement with three distinct sections:
The piece is a concerto "all'italiana", a relatively new form in Bellini's time, which consists of an introduction, a slow section, and an Allegro. The first section, marked "Risoluto allegro", is only nine bars long and in the key of G major. It does not develop any melodic material in the rest of the piece, and it consists of a chord progression that makes heavy use of chromatic intervals. Naxos Records referred to it as "the shortest of dramatic introductions". Charles-David Lehrer opined that the concerto "deleted the first movement structure", in contrast to previous concerti for the oboe.
Lehrer also stated that most pieces without an extensive first movement were labeled as concertinos.
The second section, "Larghetto Cantabile", marks the first entrance of the oboe and transitions to E-flat major, a major third down from the previous key of G major. In this section, the oboe soloist has several short cadenzas, expressive melodies, and fermata notes. The section can be divided into three subsections. Hyperion Records called the oboe part in the section "aria-like", stating that it was typical of the bel canto style that was to influence Frédéric Chopin.
The third and final section, a polonaise marked "Allegro", is the largest section of the piece and changes the time signature to 3/4. The section shows a greater amount of interaction between the solo and orchestral parts, as there is frequent imitation and trading off of the main theme. One compiler and publisher of Bellini's music called the section a rondo in the structure "ABACABX"; he also wrote that "the orchestra connects the different episodes by short riffs […] and replies once the main theme." Lehrer noted this third section as part of the common trend towards polonaises in rondo format as final movements of Romantic oboe concerti, listing it with works by Carl Maria von Weber, Stanislas Verroust, and Georges Guilhaud.
Reception.
The concerto has often been noted for its operatic qualities and the usage of bel canto themes in the solo oboe part. Valeria Lucentini, in an introduction to an edition of the piece, wrote, "Bellini devolves the lively and intense expressiveness of vocal music to the cantabile. As a result, Bellini places particular emphasis on the solo instrument, in effect giving it the same attention as the human voice." She also stated that this characteristic was possibly influenced by some of the wordless songs composed by Bellini's teacher, Niccolò Antonio Zingarelli.
Program notes for a United States Military Academy concert wrote that "The lyrical writing in the concerto is so indicative of Bellini's style that one could easily believe it to belong to one of Bellini's operas, and yet the work is still thoroughly idiomatic to the oboe." Hyperion Records opined that "Bellini's juxtaposition of lyrical and more rigorous passages gives the little work an expertly managed inner balance." "Gramophone" referred to the concerto as one that "extends the past rather than smooths the passage to the twentieth-century revival of the form," contrasting it with Domenico Cimarosa's constructed oboe concerto by Arthur Benjamin as an example of a 20th-century 'revival' of a work that was not originally made.
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Weir)
Judith Weir's Oboe Concerto was written from 2016 to 2018 on a joint commission from the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra, and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. Its world premiere was performed by the oboist Celia Craig (to whom the score is dedicated) and Adelaide Symphony Orchestra conducted by Douglas Boyd at Adelaide Town Hall, Adelaide, on 12 October 2018.
Composition.
The concerto lasts about 18 minutes and is divided in two numbered movements. Weir, who began playing the oboe at the age of 11, described writing the piece as having "an almost autobiographical significance." She added, "It was also a memory exercise, as I recalled in detail some of the music I had learned so carefully during those years. One important work, the Strauss Concerto, was helpful with my choice of accompanying instruments; just a wind octet plus strings." She also cited Domenico Cimarosa's "Concerto for Oboe" as having influenced "the melancholy but also dance-like feel" of the second movement.
Instrumentation.
The work is scored for solo oboe and a small orchestra comprising two flutes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, and strings.
Reception.
The concerto has been generally praised by music critics. Rebecca Franks of "The Times" wrote, "The solo line strolls in as if it had just turned a corner to join us; it later simply disappears like a bird flying high up into the sky. The work finishes as unassumingly as it starts: three oboe calls followed by three string chords that fade into the distance. The effect was understated, refreshing." Hannah Nepilova of the "Financial Times" similarly opined that "this piece confirms Weir's integrity: she writes what she wants to write, impervious to the criticisms of those who might disdain tonality. There is much sophisticated lyricism in this concerto, and real feeling." She nevertheless added, "But the nostalgia runs away with itself: between echoes of early Vaughan Williams and Richard Strauss, there's precious little space left for Weir's own voice."
References.
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Oboe Concerto (Higdon)
The Oboe Concerto is a concerto for a solo oboe and orchestra by the American composer Jennifer Higdon. The work was commissioned by the Minnesota Commissioning Club and was premiered on September 9, 2005, by the oboist Kathy Greenbank and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Higdon later reworked the piece into her Soprano Sax Concerto in 2007.
Composition.
The Oboe Concerto is composed in a single movement and has a duration of roughly 17 minutes. Higdon described the composition of the piece in the score program notes, writing:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />This "Oboe Concerto" gives the instrument a chance to highlight its extraordinary lyrical gift. The beauty of the soaring line intrigued me as a starting point, and then the realization that the oboe makes a great partner for duets within an orchestral texture, sent me in the direction of creating interactions with other instruments in the supporting ensemble.
She added, "I have always thought of the oboe as being a most majestic instrument, and it was a pleasure to be able to create a work that would highlight its beauty and grace."
Instrumentation.
The work is scored for a solo oboe and an orchestra comprising two flutes (2nd doubling piccolo), oboe, English horn, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, one percussionist, and strings.
Reception.
Reviewing the world premiere, Michael Anthony of the "Star Tribune" lauded the piece, remarking, "Higdon has written a truly appealing work, the appeal of which is apparent on first hearing." He added:<templatestyles src="Template:Blockquote/styles.css" />[Higdon's] Oboe Concerto shares the shimmering beauty and rhythmic playfulness of many of her other works. The concerto, in fact, seems infused with the beauty of its solo instrument. Higdon seems to address that quality. She opens and closes the work with a sustained note in the oboe's middle register. It's a striking opening, as if to say just a single note on this instrument can enchant — and it does.
Higdon herself has regarded the piece as one of her favorites among her own works, alongside "blue cathedral" and her Concerto for Orchestra.
References.
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Oboe Concerto No. 1 (Handel)
The Oboe Concerto No. 1 in B flat major (HWV 301) was composed by George Frideric Handel for oboe, orchestra and basso continuo. It was first published in the fourth volume of "Select Harmony" by Walsh in 1740. Other catalogues of Handel's music have referred to the work as HG xxi, 85; and HHA iv/12,17.
The concerto is thought to be an early work of Handel's, however the attribution to Handel has been questioned on stylistic grounds
A typical performance of the work takes almost eight minutes.
Movements.
The work consists of four movements:
References.
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Oboe
Double-reed woodwind instrument
The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites.
The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, measures roughly long and has metal keys, a conical bore and a flared bell. Sound is produced by blowing into the reed at a sufficient air pressure, causing it to vibrate with the air column. The distinctive tone is versatile and has been described as "bright". When the word "oboe" is used alone, it is generally taken to mean the soprano member rather than other instruments of the family, such as the bass oboe, the cor anglais (English horn), or oboe d'amore.
Today, the oboe is commonly