Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 5 December 1791) Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3, E-flat major, K.

447

Among his numerous concertos, Mozart composed four horn concertos. In this presentation, we will be presenting on Mozart's Third Concerto for horn and orchestra, KV. 447. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 3, E-flat major, K. 447 was completed between 1784 and 1787. The true date of completion is still unknown. At that period of time, Mozart was in Vienna, he soon died in 1791. Horn Concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are a major part of most professional horn players repertoire. These concertos were written for his childhood friend, Joseph Leutgeb (also spelled as Leitgeb) The Mozart concertos were written for the natural horn (without valves) and require good techniques of horn playing such as great lip control (lip trills), handstopping (to play chromatic notes), and rapid tonguing. Joseph Leutgeb (or Leitgeb) (8 October 1732, Neulerchenfeld 27 February 1811, Vienna) was an outstanding horn player of the classical era. He was a friend and musical inspiration for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. According to Daniel Heartz, he "was the most prominent horn soloist in Vienna, and evidently one of the best received players on any solo instrument. In 1762, Leutgeb moved to Salzburg and joined the musical establishment of the ruling Prince-Archbishop; and thus became a colleague of Leopold Mozart. He also made friends with the seven year old child prodigy, Leopolds son, Wolfgang. Wolfgang was ultimately employed by the court music establishment and thus became Leutgebs colleague. Like Leopold and Wolfgang, Leutgeb took frequent leaves from his job for the purpose of performing in other cities as a soloist, including Paris, Vienna, Frankfurt, and cities in Italy; the three of them actually toured together in Italy in February 1773. Leutgeb was most likely the adult Mozart's favorite horn player, as a number of the composer's works were written for him. The concertos are at the core of the solo horn literature and are widely performed today. Mozart had a curious joking relationship with Leutgeb, seen for instance in the mocking comments he placed in Leutgeb's horn parts. K. 417 bears the mock dedication: "Wolfgang Amad Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna, March 27, 1783". In one place he marks the orchestra part "Allegro" and the solo part "Adagio", perhaps mocking the tendency of horn notes to come in late, dragging the tempo. This concerto is scored for 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, Solo horn in Eb and Strings. In other words it is for ensemble playing. A normal sized orchestra would have 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 2 Clarinets (in C, B-flat, or A), 2 Bassoons, 2 or 4 horns in any key, 2 trumpets in any key, 2 timpani and strings.

The work is in 3 movements (fast slow fast): I. II. III. Allegro (4/4) Romance (Larghetto) (4/4) Allegro (6/8)

Musically, the concertos are of a piece. The opening movements, extended essays in sonata form, elicit abundant displays of virtuosity. The slow movements, variously entitled Andante or Romance, provide cantabiles to be rendered as perfectly as the most mellow, interesting and accurate voice, while the finale, rousing movement in 6/8 time, recall the origins of the horn as an instrument of the hunt. Mozart treats movement 1 in this concerto with so much freedom. For example, some of the themes heard in the exposition may not be heard again in subsequent sections. The piano, at its entry, may introduce entirely new material. There may even be new material in the socalled development section, which in effect becomes a free fantasia. The first ritornello lasts for 28 bars, however not over dramatic so that when the solo horn comes in, it does not become too repetitive. Cadenza often refers to a portion of a concerto in which the orchestra stops playing, leaving the soloist to play alone in free time (without a strict, regular pulse) and can be written or improvised, depending on what the composer specifies. This normally occurs near the end of the first movement, though it can be at any point in a concerto. In Mozarts horn concertos, towards the end of the first movement, there is a traditional place for an improvised cadenza. Which would be ad lib, and it will end of with a Ic trill to chord V. This concerto has clarinets apart from the bassoons. They give support, bring warmth and light colouring to this piece of work. These gratefully written and tightly structured works each display a rich contrast of chiaroscuro (like corellis style), of bright (open) and dark (covered) tones, broadly spun lyrical themes, a cantabile episode in a very different tonality in the development, a second movement romance, and as finale a hunt piece of great virtuosity. Texture of this piece is homophonic, the melody is in a singing style. To add colours to the piece, there were terraced dynamics and ornaments. The element of difficulty of this piece is the lip trills, hand stopping, and rapid tonguing on the natural horn (horn without valves). People always think of lip trills as rapid alternating between two pitches but it is actually play a pitch somewhere between the two notes and balancing between the high and low sides of that in-between pitch. As for hand stopping, there are two ways, one is the bohemian and the other is the french style. To be able to tongue quickly on the natural horn is tough as the horn has only one crook, and we have to move our hands quick and together with our tongues. Although Mozarts horn concertos were written to blend/agree, there are still elements that allow the soloist to showcase their virtuosity (cadenza).