Piano Concerto No. 9 (Mozart)

Piano Concerto No. 9
Jeunehomme or Jenamy
by W. A. Mozart
1777 portrait of Mozart
KeyE-flat major
CatalogueK. 271
GenreConcerto
StyleClassical period
Composed1777 (1777)
MovementsThree (Allegro, Andantino, Rondo, Presto)
Scoring
  • Piano
  • orchestra

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 9 in E♭ major, K. 271, known as the Jeunehomme or Jenamy concerto was written in Salzburg in 1777 when the composer was 21 years old.

Composition

Mozart completed the concerto in January 1777, nine months after his Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major and with few significant compositions in the intervening period.[1] He composed the work for Victoire Jenamy, the daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre and a proficient pianist.[2] Mozart performed the concerto at a private concert on 4 October 1777. Jenamy may have premiered the work earlier.[3]

Structure

The work is scored for solo piano, 2 oboes, 2 French horns (in E♭), and strings.

It consists of three movements:

  1. Allegro, in E♭ major and common (4
    4    ) time, ~10 min
  2. Andantino, in C minor and 3
    4     time, ~12 min
  3. Rondo (Presto), in E♭ major and cut (2
    2    ) time, ~10 min

I. Allegro

Unusually for the time, the first movement opens with interventions by the soloist, anticipating Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Concertos. As Cuthbert Girdlestone (1964) notes,[4] its departures from convention do not end with this early solo entrance but continue in the style of dialogue between piano and orchestra in the rest of the movement.

Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this and the subsequent movement.[5]

II. Andantino

The second movement is written in the relative minor key. In only five of Mozart's piano concertos is the second movement in a minor key (K. 41, K. 271, K. 456, K. 482, and K. 488. K. 41 is an arrangement).

III. Rondo (Presto)

The third movement, which opens with the solo piano, is in a rondo form on a large scale. It is interrupted by a slow minuet section in the subdominant key of A♭ major (a procedure Mozart would repeat with his 22nd concerto, 1785, also in the key of E♭ major). The work ends in the original tempo.

Reception

The work is highly regarded by critics. Charles Rosen has called it "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece [of the] classical style."[6] Alfred Brendel has called it "one of the greatest wonders of the world".[7] Alfred Einstein dubbed it "Mozart's Eroica".[8] Cuthbert Girdlestone was not quite as effusive in his praise, however, noting that the slow movement, while a great leap forward for Mozart, was still somewhat limited and the work as a whole was not equal to the piano concertos from the composer's peak in Vienna from 1784 to 1787, nor equal to his best compositions overall.[9] More recently, the Mozart scholar Simon P Keefe has summed up the concerto as "characterized by a conciseness of thematic development, a depth of expression (in the Andantino in particular) and a level of exuberant virtuosity (especially in the finale) that surpasses anything witnessed in his preceding piano concertos."[10]

Name

The work has long been known as the Jeunehomme Concerto. Théodore de Wyzéwa and Georges de Saint-Foix claimed that Mozart wrote the piece for an unnamed French pianist 'Jeunehomme' (French for "young man", but also a common French surname) visiting Salzburg.[11] However, Michael Lorenz demonstrated in 2004 that the dedicatee was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749–1812), a French virtuoso who was a daughter of one of Mozart's friends, the dancer Jean-Georges Noverre.[12] Mozart became familiar with Jenamy and her reputedly splendid playing when she performed in Salzburg in December 1776. Part of the confusion of names was due to the fact that in their letters Mozart and his father variously refer to her as ‘the jenomy’, 'Madame jenomè' and ‘Madame genomai’.[13][14] In addition, Wyzéwa and Saint Foix had to base their work on prior transcriptions of Mozart's letters, as they were denied access to the originals by a difficult and unco-operative archivist. However, they also changed her title from Madame (indicating that she was married) to Mademoiselle (indicating that she was not). The reasons for this remain a mystery.[15]

Notes

  1. ^ Girdlestone 1948, p. 94.
  2. ^ Hewitt, Angela. "Piano Concerto No 9 in E flat major 'Jeunehomme', K271". Hyperion Records. Archived from the original on 31 March 2017. Retrieved 31 March 2017.
  3. ^ Steinberg 1998, p. 281.
  4. ^ Girdlestone, Cuthbert Morton; Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus; Girdlestone, Cuthbert Morton (1964). Mozart and his piano concertos. Dover books on music (Unabridged and corr. republ. of the 2. (1958) ed., first publ. in 1948 ... under the title Mozart's piano concertos ed.). New York: Dover Publ. pp. 94–5. ISBN 978-0-486-21271-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  5. ^ Mozart, W. A. (1963). Landowska, Wanda (ed.). Cadenzas for Mozart Piano Concerto no. 9 in E flat Major K. 271. Broude Brothers. ASIN B01MY4CHMV.
  6. ^ Rosen 1976, p. 59.
  7. ^ "A Break From Romanticism With Some Mozart" Archived 2016-07-25 at the Wayback Machine by Vivien Schweitzer, The New York Times, 20 April 2012
  8. ^ "Mozart Piano Concerto No. 9 in E-flat major, K. 271" Archived 2017-09-30 at the Wayback Machine by Ethan Allred, Chamber Music Northwest
  9. ^ Girdlestone, Cuthbert (1964). Mozart and his piano concertos. New York: Dover Publications. pp. 100–101. ISBN 978-0-486-21271-5. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  10. ^ Eisen, Cliff; Keefe, Simon P., eds. (2006). The Cambridge Mozart encyclopedia. Cambridge, [England]: Cambridge University Press. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-521-85659-1.
  11. ^ Steyaert, Kris (2016). "Mozart with a French twist: 'Mademoiselle Jeunehomme' revisited". The Musical Times. 157 (1937): 6–12. ISSN 0027-4666.
  12. ^ Michael Lorenz, "»Mademoiselle Jeunehomme« Zur Lösung eines Mozart-Rätsels", Mozart Experiment Aufklärung, (Essays for the Mozart Exhibition 2006) Da Ponte Institut, Vienna 2006, pp. 423–429.
  13. ^ Keefe, Simon P. (2006-01-04). Eisen, Cliff; Keefe, Simon P. (eds.). The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia (1 ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 112. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511481383. ISBN 978-0-521-85659-1.
  14. ^ Lorenz, Michael (2005). "The Jenamy Concerto". Newsletter of the American Mozart Society. IX (1): 1–3.
  15. ^ Steyaert, Kris (2016). "Mozart with a French twist: 'Mademoiselle Jeunehomme' revisited". The Musical Times. 157 (1937): 6–12. ISSN 0027-4666.

Sources

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