Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, A Prolific Writer Of Concertos

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1757 - 1791, was a prolific writer of concertos, composing 27 piano concertos. Throughout his writing he developed the use of the cadenza, highlighting the performer’s talent with a virtuosic passage. Not all Mozart’s cadenzas have survived therefore future composers have attempted to recreate these passages, often reflecting the period in which they were written. Cadenza comes from the Latin ‘Cadere’, ‘to fall’ and broadly means a flourish at the end of a single melodic line. In the Medieval period pieces contained flourishes to enhance their final cadences, though few were notated. This is the cadenza in its earliest form. In late seventeenth-century opera the ‘improvised cadenza’ was purely virtuosic notes†¦show more content†¦An example of this is in the first movement of C.P.E. Bach’s Harpsichord Concerto in G major H475 below. Ex. 1: Obbligato cadenzas in C.P.E. Bach Harpsichord Concerto, H 475, First Movement. By the mid eighteenth century the cadenza had become an established element of the concerto, a tradition contributed to by the fact that the cadenza added drama, created contrast between the tutti and solo performer and created a conclusion. Most cadenzas were at a cadential six-four, placed toward the final solo section of the movement as shown above. Mozart was an influential composer in the eighteenth century, composing many of his works for the pianoforte. Mozart’s early cadenzas do not usually quote from the movement within which they were written. These ‘generic’ cadenzas often consist of scales and arpeggios which, in theory, could be transferred for use in another concerto in similar tempo and key. This happens in the cadenza of the first movement of K. 238 in B-flat major which is made of regular scales and consists of no real thematic material relating to the work. As the eighteenth century improvised cadenza began to develop, the passages became longer and more virtuosic. Mozart and Daniel Turk (1750-1813), notable composer, organist, scholar and peer of Quantz, both disagreed with this, believing that the new cadenzas were distracting from the work.