Analysis by	:	Peter J. Parfitt
Reference	:	8.550434 tracks 1-3

Note – It would be a good idea to consult the chapters on “Music of the Classical Period”, “The Concerto”, “Ternary Form”, “Rondo” and “Sonata Form” in the study area before studying this analysis.

Background and Overview

Although the Piano Concerto K466 was the twentieth example of the genre to be written by Mozart, it was the first one to be written in a minor key.  Its importance in the history of the concerto in the eighteenth century cannot be underestimated, and it was one of the few to remain popular throughout the nineteenth century.  Beethoven himself gave performances of it and even wrote cadenzas for the first and third movements.  Its style leaves behind the classically formed concertos of the 1770s, and introduces us to a fusion of heavily textured symphonic energy and concerto form.  The power evident in the orchestral writing of this concerto and the extravagance of the solo part began to liberate the form, demonstrating in the process that the concerto could rightfully claim a place of its own in the recognised genres of the eighteenth century. The stormy relationship between the soloist and the orchestra begins to show Mozart to us as the direct antecedent of Beethoven and even anticipates the piano concertos of Brahms. 

K466 was written as one of a pair, early in 1785, for a subscription series in Vienna, the other being the Concerto No. 21 in C major, K467.  Rosen states that ¹ “with K466 and K467 Mozart created works which belong as much to the history of the symphony as to the concerto, just as, with [ The Marriage of ] Figaro, we enter a world where opera and chamber music meet.”

The first performance was given at the Mehlgrube in Vienna on February 11th, 1785.  Mozart’s father, Leopold, had arrived in Vienna a matter of hours before, having travelled from Salzburg through snow and ice on a “ghastly road”.  The next day he wrote the following in a letter to Mozart’s sister, Nannerl: 

“…[ on ] Friday evening we went at 6 o’ clock to his [ Mozart’s ] first
subscription series where there was a great gathering of select people.
[ We know that Haydn was amongst the audience that night ]. The concert
was incomparable, and the orchestra was excellent. Apart from the
symphonies a singer from the Italian opera sang two arias. Then came
a new and excellent piano concerto by Wolfgang, which the copyist was
still copying when we arrived. Your brother did not even have time to
play through the rondo with the orchestra before the concert as he
was supervising the copying…”

Mozart performed the concerto on his own piano, which was carried, every Friday, from his home in Vienna to the Mehlgrube and back for the duration of the subscription series.

The restless opening movement, in D minor, is followed by a calm and beautiful Romance in the submediant (Bb) major which is broadly in ternary form with a highly contrasting middle episode.  The work is finished with a brilliant Rondo back in D minor.

The work is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, timpani (D and A), strings and piano.

*** ¹ The Classical Style by Charles Rosen (Faber), p. 228.

 

Analysis

First movement: Allegro

Exposition (orchestra only)	First subject Second subject	0.01 0.58	D minor F major
Piano enters	Bridge passage	2.20	D minor
Repeat of Exposition (piano and orchestra)	First subject Second subject	2.46 3.28	D minor F major
	Third subject	3.51	F major
Development	Numerous thematic juxtaposition and the recycling of previously heard material with extensive and sequential modulation.
Recapitulation	First subject	7.33	D minor
	Second subject	8.34	F major
	Third subject	9.00	D minor
Cadenza		10.52
Coda	(Based on first subject)	13.12	D minor

From the very first beat, when the displacement of the repeated crotchet pattern by a quaver establishes the pulsating syncopated rhythm of the opening material, the listless and agitated nature of this movement becomes apparent.  Accompanied by a menacing, ascending triplet figure in the bass, the brooding and volatile first subject is launched immediately, and is based on a sequence of rising 6ths and falling 2nds, later becoming more urgent, with rising 3rds and falling 2nds treated sequentially.

After the inevitable explosion of the first subject (0.28), where the strings play aggressive upward triplet motifs based on tonic / dominant harmony, there follows a passage of transition (0.41 – 0.57) which consists of homophonically written wind and brass parts with a distinctive dotted rhythm, over a “walking” bass pattern.   This transition ends in the dominant of A major. 

Without any pretence at modulation the second subject, based on a simple motif which drops a second and then rises again, decorated by flute octaves and treated three times as a rising sequence, is announced in F major – the relative to the tonic key – and played in the woodwind.

Having ascended sequentially three times, the music moves back down, again sequentially, based on a chain of descending oboe suspensions accompanied by the strings.

The angry timbres of the opening tonality and harmonic material return at 1.20 and this takes us up to 2.20, where the piano enters.  The opening material given to the piano here is in the form of a new, haunting and melancholic melody, based on a rising octave motif and falling discordant appoggiaturas figures, which resolve immediately.

This serves as a bridge passage, which leads us back to the repeat of the exposition at 2.46.  Here the opening material is repeated.  Unlike what occurs in many previous examples of double exposition sonata form, popular in concertos, at no point is the piano given the first subject to play, with its threatening bass line and syncopated upper parts. This is repeated, in the orchestra at 2.46, but the piano is given a lively accompanying semiquaver figuration, 2.53, which thickens and darkens the texture yet further.

The second subject is again stated in the relative of F major by the oboes, 3.28, this time decorated by the piano at 3.30.  This decoration develops from the original flute part into a new running, scalic, semiquaver passage (3.45), which leads us to an imperfect cadence in F major.  This allows for the introduction, by the piano alone (3.51), of a third theme, again based on a simple sequence.  The introduction of a third theme into the second exposition was a device that Mozart had employed on earlier occasions in his concertos.

From here more transitory music, based on the harmonic pattern of the first subject, takes us up to the development section, where the first subject is repeated in the relative of F major (5.13).  The original theme appears to be far less threatening when stated in the major tonality, and could almost be described as optimistic.  At 5.46 we hear again the melody played when the piano originally entered.  It too has been transposed from the minor to the major, and its melancholic wistful overtones are replaced with a cheerful, almost sunny quality with the change of tonality.  These two melodies are then played in alternation through various keys (G minor – 6.10 / E♭ major – 6.31 / C minor – 6.38). Next there is a passage of regular and sequential harmonic development, travelling through the keys of E major (6.51), C minor (6.55), F minor (6.58), D major (7.02), G minor (7.06), E♭ major (7.09), and A major (7.12). With music based around the original ascending bass motif (6.51 – 7.33) we return to D minor for the recapitulation at 7.33.

The model of the recapitulation is largely followed in a predictable way here.  The first subject is returned to us, intact, and back in D minor (7.33) with the piano again thickening and adding menacingly to the texture with fast semiquaver figuration, but not actually playing the subject.

The second subject is returned in a carbon copy of its second exposition at 8.34, and then the third subject is reintroduced.  This had not been stated through the development, but returns here in the home key of D minor (9.00).  As if now realising the opportunity to develop this material, Mozart takes this third subject on a little private journey, modulating it through D and G minors, and decorating it with descending piano scales, ‘Scotch snap’ dotted rhythms in the upper strings and an almost comical rising arpeggiated bassoon part (9.15 – 9.28).  More transitory material, based more on chord sequences than on melodic material, but linked intrinsically to the first subject in terms of mood and texture, takes us up to an imperfect cadence in D minor whereupon a cadenza follows.

Contemporary documentation seems to indicate that, in 1785, Mozart simply didn’t have time to write a cadenza.  We can presume that he improvised one at the first performance. Beethoven later contributed two cadenzas to this work, one of which is used here. Based on fragments of all of the main subjects, making adjustments to their texture and tonality, this has Beethoven’s hallmarks all over it: the deep doubled thirds; the sforzandi and the virtuosic scalic passages, which exploit almost the entire piano compass, are to be found throughout his piano sonatas and concertos.

The coda at 10.52 takes us though the original opening material to a relatively gentle ending. The orchestration is reduced at 13.31, and the music comes to a soft conclusion with the bass motif still featuring, but appearing to have lost its ability to be threatening.

 

Second Movement: Romance

A Section
Opening theme (part 1)	0.01-0.23	Bb major	Piano
Repeated	0.25-0.45		Orchestra
Opening theme (part 2)	0.48-1.09	Bb major	Piano
Repeated	1.12-1.30		Orchestra
Extension of opening material	1.33-1.54	Various	Orchestra
New theme	1.58-3.21	Various	Piano and orchestra
Opening theme (part 1)	3.26-3.47	Bb major	Piano
Repeated	3.49-4.10		Orchestra
B Section New theme	4.13-6.43	Various	Piano and orchestra
A Section Opening theme (parts 1&2)	6.46-7.30	Bb major	Piano
Opening theme (part 2)	7.33-7.51	Bb major	Orchestra
Extension	7.54-8.06	Bb major	Orchestra
Coda	8.08 – end	Bb major	Piano and orchestra

Following the turbulent mood of the opening movement, with its heavily textured orchestral writing, minor tonality and excitable piano part, the opening theme of the Romance is, by contrast, breathtaking in its simplicity and purity.  It is one of those perfect Mozart melodies - completely balanced and brilliantly crafted.

This melody consists of a four-bar theme in the piano, repeated with a different final bar, followed eventually by a second, complementary eight bars. This beautiful and haunting opening theme (16 bars long when performed in its entirety) is divided into two parts (see table above), and each part is stated firstly in its innocent and unclothed form, with the piano alone playing the melody accompanied by the most economic of left-hand figurations.

Ex. 5. The opening piano theme, 0.01 – 0.23

Each half of this melody is repeated with a beautifully light, classical orchestration, where the irascibility of the opening movement is forgotten, and the quintessentially subtle and graceful Viennese textures of the late-eighteenth century prevail.  At the final bar of the orchestrated repeat of the second part of the theme (1.33), Mozart interrupts the cadence and extends the material for another 7 bars through a delightful harmonic sequence based on dominant 7th chords around the cycle of fifths, which leads the music back to B♭ major and a decorated perfect cadence (1.50 – 1.54).  The piano then takes off on a new theme (1.58).  Such is the structure of the movement at this point, and the opening nature of this new theme, that the listener is almost fooled into thinking this to be a Theme and Variations (a structure used to great effect by Mozart in other piano concertos).  However, whilst much of this new theme has its melodic and harmonic derivation in the original theme, this is not the case. The second theme of the Romance, stated by the piano and lightly accompanied by the orchestra, takes us through a series of easy modulations (the keys of B♭ major, E♭ major, D major, G minor, F major, F minor and C major are all implied or briefly visited), elegant melodic shapes and satisfying cadential points, before delivering us back into B♭ major at 3.26 for a restatement of the original theme.  This second theme is not heard  again.

The Romance is in ternary form, which implies the presence of a clearly definable and contrasting middle section.  This there most certainly is, as, at 4.13, and quite without warning, the music lurches from the unsuspecting B♭ major into G minor, whereupon the angry and aggressive figuration and the dark textures of the opening movement reappear.  This middle section is dominated not so much by a theme as by a chord progression.  This material, linked to a harmonic progression involving the related keys of G minor, D minor, C minor, D major, B♭ major, F major and E♭ major, is often used with unresolved (dominant) sevenths and is peppered with diminished chords and falling chromatic bass lines.  It is sustained in the wind and brass parts, sometimes with a quaver-displaced syncopated figure, which mirrors that of the first movement.  Additional fire is added to the texture through widely-spaced double and triple stopped string chords every eight bars.  A surging piano part which rises and falls throughout completes the picture; the pianist has melodic material in the left hand, both below, in octaves, and above the right hand, which maintains a furious, arpeggiated, triplet-dominated accompanimental figuration throughout.  The textures and mood evoked by this middle section would be largely inexplicable were the Romance to be removed from the concerto and treated as a separate piece.  The unity with which Mozart treats the concerto as a whole is, however, enough to explain its presence.   At 6.25, over a dominant pedal point in G minor, the storm begins to subside and the texture thins.  At 6.40 the bass note slips down to a C, to provide the second inversion platform for a dominant seventh cadence back into B♭ major.  Immediately, as if nothing had happened, we hear again the opening theme (6.45), played for the first time with both parts adjacent to each other, in its original, unadulterated form on the piano alone.  The second part of this is taken up the by the orchestra at 7.33 before the material is again extended and developed into an extended cadence at 7.54 before a coda, starting at 8.08, brings the music to a calm and restful conclusion. 

 

Third Movement: Rondo - Allegro Assai

This movement is in sonata rondo form, which combines the fundamental characteristics of sonata form (key relationships and the development of material previously exposed) with that of rondo (the continuing restatement of a prevailing principal melody in alternation with new material).  This form was a favourite of both Haydn and Beethoven for final movements.

A (rondo)	0.01-0.12	D minor	Piano
Repeated and developed	0.12-0.55	D minor/various	Orchestra
B	0.55-1.04	D minor	Piano
A	1.04-1.20	D minor/various	Piano/orchestra
C	1.20-2.00	F minor/various	Piano/orchestra
D	2.00-2.25	F major	Piano/orchestra
A	2.27-2.51	D minor/various	Piano, then orchestra
B	2.52-3.01	A minor	Piano
A	3.01-3.21	A minor/various	Piano/orchestra
B	3.22-3.58	G minor/various	Piano/orchestra
C	3.59-4.26	D minor/various	Piano/orchestra
D	4.26-5.05	A major/various	Piano/orchestra
Cadenza	5.05-6.23		Piano
A	6.23-6.28	D minor	Piano
Coda (D)	6.29-end	D major	Piano/orchestra

In this final movement Mozart trades both the ominous, premonitory mood of the first movement and the beauty and tranquillity of the second for sheer energy and exuberance.  The opening melody, or rondo theme, is constructed out of a fast, rising arpeggio, beginning on a half beat, which itself fills the music with instant energy.  The piano alone starts this final movement – a very common characteristic in classical piano concertos:

Ex.6. Rondo (A) theme, 0.01 – 0.12

This is then taken up by the orchestra, and the rising arpeggio motif is immediately modulated and extended through various keys before coming to rest on a dominant pedal - a unison A (0.27) which serves as a platform for a rising chromatic expansion of the melody between quickly repeated quaver As.  At 0.35 this is swapped for a tonic pedal, D, where the same thing happens, but in inversion, with the melody extending downwards from the tonic note.  Finally the music cadences in D Minor at 0.55 and an episode (B) is introduced.

Ex.7. Episode (B), 0.55

The piano gives us a brief exposition of this before returning unceremoniously to the A theme.  This theme then undergoes a brief extension and development, before coming to rest on an imperfect cadence in F major (1.19 – 1.20).  Immediately the next episode (C) is introduced in F minor (1.21).

Ex.8. Episode (C), 1.20

Harmonic and melodic sequential writing are used to develop and extend this idea from 1.37 – 2.00, until, at 2.00, the final episode (D) is played.  This theme is replayed by the piano, which then leads us back, by way of a passage of rising arpeggios, to an imperfect cadence in D minor, from which the A theme is launched back in its home key.

Ex.9. Episode (D), 2.00

It can be seen from the table above that the compositional and auditory unity of this movement lies in the application both of rondo form, with the constant reappearance of the principal melody, and of sonata form, with the close relationship of the keys used and the inventive development of existing melodic, harmonic and rhythmic material.

The texture throughout the movement is constantly varied, with long tutti passages alternating with bravura passages for solo piano – a hallmark of many of Mozart’s later piano concertos.

The impression with which we are left is that this movement was composed in a hurry: Leopold’s statement about the necessary, late work of the copyist is borne out when we listen to this final portion of the concerto, and yet there is no compromise in skill or quality. Numerous times Mozart interrupts himself as the fresh ideas for extension and creativity spill across the page.  Look at the cadential points at 1.09, 2.19 – 2.25, 2.40, 3.00, 3.30, 4.57 and 6.28, as the constant changing of one melody for another, and one texture for another, simply adds to the energy and relentless drive that pervade this movement. 

The glorious passages where we are taken on a journey around parts of the cycle of fifths, or related regular and sequential harmonic progressions, some with chromatically ascending or descending bass lines (see passages from 3.07 – 3.16, 3.37 – 3.58, 4.15 – 4.26, 4.40 – 4.50) delight and satisfy the listener, yet we trust always that Mozart is going to return us to a safe key and provide us with a soft, almost imperceptible, tonal landing.

The coda, with which Mozart forever sweeps away the minor tonality, exchanges fortissimo passages of tutti with delicately scored, descending woodwind passages (6.29 - end) and is a masterstroke, combining comic energy, symphonic strength and pianistic virtuosity. The inevitable conclusion, to which we are led by the final ascending scales in the piano, juxtaposed against antiphonal, imitative repetitions of the notes of the tonic triad – so simple, but applied with such skill – between wind and brass is the final stage in the journey on which this concerto has taken us.  We started with brooding, seething tempestuousness, we came on through purity, sweetness and innocence and into a world of high energy, fast velocity and crisp brilliance, and we finish in a sound-world of acclamation, ascension and triumph.

 

Further listening

Bibliography