Piano Concerto No. 9 (Mozart)
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| Number: | 9 |
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| Köchel number: | 271 |
| Key: | E flat major |
| Instrumentation: | Piano and orchestra |
| Date of composition: | completed by January 1777 |
The Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jeunehomme" in E flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777. Though he wrote it when he was only 21 years old, it is regarded as Mozart's first great masterpiece because of its originality. Alfred Einstein dubbed it "Mozart's Eroica."
The work has been known as the "Jeunehomme" Concerto for a long time. It was said that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist "Jeunehomme" when she visited Salzburg. But scholars couldn't identify the woman for whom he actually wrote it. Recently, the musicologist Michael Lorenz proved that the woman was actually Victoire Jenamy, a daughter of Jean George Noverre, a famous dancer who was one of Mozart's best friends.
The work is orchestrated for solo piano, two oboes, two horns, and strings (violins divided into two, violas, cellos and double basses). It starts with the orchestra playing for one measure, before the solo piano comes in.
It consists of three movements:
- Allegro, in E flat major and common (C) time
- Andantino, in C minor and 3/4 time
- Rondo (Presto), in E flat major and 2/2 time
The first movement which opens with the solo piano is written in an unconventional style: it might be described as a pioneer of Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4 or 5. As Girdlestone describes its departures from convention do not end with this premature opening, but continue into the style of dialogue between piano and orchestra in the rest of the movement, for which Mozart wrote two cadenzas.
The second movement is written in a minor key. In Mozart's piano concertos, there were only five pieces which second movement was in a minor key (K. 41, K. 271, K. 456, K. 482, and K. 488. K. 41 is an arrangement). Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this movement.
The third movement which opens with the solo piano is in a rondo form on a large scale. The sudden introduction of a slow minuet in this movement can be regarded as an allusion to the dedicatee's dancer father.
[edit] References
[edit] Further reading
- Girdlestone, Cuthbert. Mozart and his piano concertos. New York: Dover Publications. 1964 ("an unabridged and corrected republication of the second (1958) edition of the work first published in 1948 by Cassell & Company, Ltd., London, under the title Mozart’s Piano Concertos." : Translation of Mozart et ses concertos pour piano.) ISBN 0-486-21271-8. Contains discussions with examples of the concertos from no. 5 in D major KV 175 to 27 in B flat KV 595 (nos. 1 to 4 being arrangements by the composer, also discussed though more briefly.)
| Piano Concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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| Childhood Arrangements: | No. 1 F Major K. 37 | No. 2 B flat Major K. 39 | No. 3 D Major K. 40 | No 4 G Major K. 41 |
| Salzburg Concertos: No. 5 D Major K. 175 | No. 6 B flat Major K. 238 | No. 8 C Major K. 246 | No. 9 E flat Major K. 271 "Jeunehomme" |
| Concertos for Multiple Pianos: No. 7 F Major K. 242 for 3 pianos | No. 10 E flat Major K. 365 for 2 pianos |
| Early Vienna Concertos: No. 11 F Major K. 413 | No. 12 A Major K. 414 | No. 13 C Major K. 415 |
| Major Vienna Concertos: No. 14 E flat Major K. 449 | No. 15 B flat Major K. 450 | No. 16 D Major K. 451 | No. 17 G Major K. 453 | No. 18 B flat Major K. 456 | No. 19 D Major K. 459 | No. 20 D Minor K. 466 | No. 21 C Major K. 467 | No. 22 E flat Major K. 482 | No. 23 A Major K. 488 | No. 24 C Minor K. 492 | No. 25 C Major K. 503 |
| Later Concertos: No. 26 D Major K. 537 "Coronation" | No. 27 B flat Major K. 595 |
