MOZARTConcerto for Horn and Orchestra

Eb major K 495

MOZART: BIOGRAPHYWolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was an Austrian composer who is widely regarded as one of the most significant classical composers. Active in the Classical period (1750–1827), he was responsible, along with Haydn, and later Beethoven, for taking the relatively simple musical style of the early Classical period and developing it into something more sophisticated, expressive and refined. He developed straightforward musical forms into complex, large-scale structures, consequently expanding the expressive range of the music.

MOZART: BIOGRAPHYA child prodigy who could play the piano at age three, the young Mozart was paraded round the aristocratic courts of Europe by his father, Leopold, and by the age of eleven, had already composed his first opera. After further touring, which took him to Italy, Germany and Paris, Mozart returned to Austria, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was extremely prolific and in the last three years of his life produced an astonishing stream of masterpieces, which include the operas Cosi Fan Tutte and The Magic Flute, the last three symphonies and the unfinished Requiem. He died in 1791, and was buried in an unknown location with others whodied at the same time.

MOZART: BIOGRAPHYHe composed in all genres of the time: serious and comic operas, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, keyboard music, vocal and choral music. He was particularly important in establishing the piano as a solo instrument and also wrote important works for clarinet and French horn that have become central to the repertoire of those instruments. In opera, he not only exploited the technical capabilities of the human voice to an unprecedented extent, he also found a musical way of depicting the complex emotions and interactions of on-stage characters that greatly surpassed the achievements of his predecessors.

THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

The Classical period (roughly between 1750 and the death of Beethoven in 1827), followed the Baroque period (c.1600–1750) and was succeeded by the Romantic Period (1827–1899). Its musical style was shaped by the instruments and ensembles that were popular at the time, contemporary musical tastes, the music of Baroque composers which was still known about and performed, and growing interest from a general public outside of the aristocratic courts who had less refined tastes than nobles.

THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

The classical style originated in the ‘galant’ style of the mid-eighteenth century which used simple harmonies and sudden contrasts of texture and dynamics, whose directness was perhaps a reaction against the complex counterpoint and chromaticism of the late Baroque period. As the eighteenth century went on, this style was developed and refined, with some of the contrapuntal complexity of late Baroque music eventually being reintroduced, so that by the mid 1770s the Classical style was a fully developed musical language.

Some general characteristics of music of the Classical period, all of which may be heard in the set work, were:

The use of balanced phrasing (or question-answer phrasing), bringing about the feeling of a �musical ‘conversation’

‘Classical’ forms that had a particular emphasis on symmetry, balance and proportion: sonata �form, ternary form, variation form and rondo form were particularly popular

Strongly defined key relationships, particular that between tonic and dominant�Frequent cadences, particular perfect, imperfect and interrupted�A much more flexible harmonic rhythm than in Baroque music, ranging from very slow to fast�Expressive use of dissonances, such as suspensions and accented appoggiaturas

Ornamentation such as trills, appoggiaturas and mordents, that often give the music a ‘graceful’ quality

Mainly homophonic textures (melody and accompaniment textures are particularly common), although contrapuntal textures also occur

Sudden contrasts of texture, instrumentation and dynamics, as well as crescendi and diminuendi�Use of certain types of figuration in accompaniment parts, such as repeated notes, and broken �chord patterns like the Alberti bass

One very important feature of the Classical period was the gradual disappearance of the basso continuo, the group of instruments usually containing a harpsichord or organ, that played the bass line and filled out the harmonies in Baroque ensemble music. Composers of orchestral music started to replace these figured bass improvisations with their own written-out parts, which enabled them to explore new textures of their own making, bringing a greater flexibility and creativity to the art of orchestration. This became a valuable tool for helping to define the music’s structure and for conveying particular moods.

The removal of the basso continuo also brought about more subtle dynamic contrasts, with sforzandi, diminuendos and crescendos becoming commonplace, replacing the terraced dynamics of Baroque music, which had tended to be either loud or soft.

THE CLASSICAL CONCERTO

The Classical concerto was the successor to the Baroque concerto and bore many similarities to it. The mostobvious was its alternation between ‘tutti’ passages for the whole orchestra and ‘solo’ passages for the soloinstrument, with light accompaniment, which parallels the Baroque concerto grosso. The Classical concertotended to have the following characteristics:. �usually in three movements, in the pattern fast – slow – fastThe first movement was usually in sonata formThe second movement was often in sonata form or variation formThe finale was often in sonata-rondo formA cadenza (an improvisation for soloist alone) was often included towards the end of each movement

Mozart’s favourite solo concerto instruments were piano (27 concertos) and violin (5) and he also wrote concertos for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn (4).

BACKGROUND TO MOZART’S HORN CONCERTO NO.4

Since Handel had included horns in the Water Music in c.1717, horn playing had changed somewhat. Although pairs of horns were fairly standard in the Classical orchestra of the 1780s, they tended not to exploit the horn’s upper register as much as Handel had done in the first half of the 18th century. However, round about 1760, a technique had been developed known as hand-stopping, whereby a player inserted their hand further into the bell of the instrument, which had the effect of lowering a pitch by a semitone or more. This meant that horn players could now play more pitches than just those of the harmonic series, enabling them to play more interesting melodies than previously.

BACKGROUND TO MOZART’S HORN CONCERTO NO.4

Mozart composed his four horn concertos for a virtuoso Austrian horn player called Joseph Ignaz Leutgeb (1732–1811). Leutgeb had worked as a horn player around Austria from the early 1750s, particularly in Vienna and Salzburg, and had appeared as a soloist as far afield as Italy, Paris and Frankfurt. Many concertos were composed for him by prominent early Classical composers, including Dittersdorf and Leopold Hofmann. It is clear from Mozart’s horn parts that Leutgeb must have been particularly adept at hand-stopping.

Mozart’s Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat major, K.495 was composed in 1786. It follows the fast- slow - fast three movement design of the classical concerto, its three movements being an Allegro Moderato, a Romanza and a Rondo finale. Mozart must have enjoyed a good friendship with Leutgeb: the autograph (i.e. original) score contains jocular comments by Mozart directed at Leutgeb, and the dedication in another concerto reads ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox and simpleton’.Flanders and Swann Horn Concerto

YouTubehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4phqQKfPA

MARKINGS IN THE SCORE

THIRD MOVEMENT: ANALYSIS

For the final movement, Mozart used the standard form for the last movement of a concerto, Sonata Rondo form. As its name suggests, this is a fusion of sonata form and rondo form:Exposition Developmen

tRecapitulati

onCoda

A (tonic)

B (dominant)

Development A(tonic)

B(tonic)

Coda (tonic)

A B A C A B A

SONATA RONDO FORM

In the third movement of Mozart’s Horn Concerto no.4, the Rondo theme is played by the solo horn in the opening eight bars. Every time the theme appears, it is immediately restated by the full orchestra. The coda is also based on the rondo theme, but is not an exact statement.

SONATA RONDO FORM

The passages in between the rondo theme statements are the second subject (‘B’) and the development section, which act as ‘episodes’ (contrasting passages) between the statements of the rondo theme. The ‘B’ episodes can be further broken down into a transition (in which the music modulates to the required key - dominant in the exposition and tonic in the recapitulation), and the second subject itself, a secondary theme which is in the tonic in the exposition and the dominant in the recapitulation. The development section explores different keys and also develops some of the themes used in the exposition.

SOLO AND TUTTI SECTIONS

The orchestration of the movement alternates between passages marked ‘solo’ and those marked ‘tutti’. Solo passages are those in which the solo horn plays, almost always with just a string accompaniment, which is normally marked piano. Tutti passages are sections in which the whole orchestra plays. In this movement, the tutti passages are marked forte and coincide with the four restatements of the rondo theme, at bars 9, 76, 129 and 186.

There are, however, short passages scored for tutti within some solo sections marked forte. These tend to link the gap between the end of a phrase on the solo horn and the beginning of another. They add interest to the music by breaking up the phrase structure and also give the solo horn player a short rest to prepare for the next phrase. These short passages occur at:

Exposition, ‘B’ section: bars 36–38, 46–48 and 52–54�Recapitulation, ‘B’ section: bars 151–153, 161–163 and 169–171�

In the Eulenburg score, the solo horn doubles the first orchestral horn in the tutti passages, but in many performances the solo horn does not actually play in these passages.

SOLO AND TUTTI SECTIONS

Other tutti moments include the chord in bar 178, which announces that the coda is imminent (this is the place where a cadenza would normally happen, but Mozart omits the cadenza here); and bars 205 to the end of the coda, whose tutti scoring allows the movement to end in a convincing and emphatic manner.

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

The writing for solo horn would not be especially virtuosic if it were for, say violin, but for natural horn it is difficult for several reasons:Because the harmonics are close together at the top of the instrument’s range, �it is easy to ‘split’ notes (i.e. ‘fall off’ a note or play the wrong note). As the horn part is fairly rapid, the player has to have excellent control of their embouchure (tension and position of the lips) and airflow to play the music accurately.Many of the lines contain rapid repeated notes, so the player needs to have strong and consistent control of tonguing to produce an even and well-articulated line.Frequent handstopping is required to play the many notes Mozart writes that �are not in the harmonic series

WRITING FOR SOLO HORNHandstopping

In Handel’s time, horns were played like hunting horns, with the bell being held upwards. After 1750, it was discovered that if the bell of the instrument was partially blocked, the pitch of the note produced could be lowered by a semitone or a tone. This led to the design of a horn by a Dresden horn player called Hampel (died 1771) with smaller coils. With this design of horn, when playing the standard open notes, the player had their right hand inserted into the bell with the back of their palm resting against the inside edge of the bell, allowing the air to pass out almost unobstructed. For stopped notes, they would push their hand into the bell, in effect changing the length of the horn’s tubing. By this method, a pitch could be lowered by up to a tone. However, handstopped notes had a quieter and more muffled tone, so players had to compensate for this by adjusting the airflow. Most of the technical demands of the horn part of the set work movement are therefore concerned with playing a melody containing handstopped notes evenly and musically. For example the passage from 88–99 has several stopped notes (written A, B, G sharp and E flat) and other notes whose tuning would have to have been adjusted through ‘lipping’ or subtle movements of the hand in the bell: the F naturals in bar 94 and B flat in bar 96.

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

Other technical demands on the soloist would have been:Fast repeated notes (b.1, 148–150, 158–160)�Ideas based on arpeggios and outlines of triads (20–22, 39–40, 48, 207–212)Chromatic lines and notes altered by handstopping (62–5, 72–77)�Wide leaps (e.g. an octave in b.8, 201)Grace note (b.168)High notes (e.g. written G in b.62, written A flat in b.144, written A in b.154)Low notes (e.g. written G below middle C in bars 208 and 210)

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

Mozart’s compositional skill is evident in the way he writes a very natural-sounding, musical but also virtuosic solo horn part despite only having access to a limited number of notes. A good example of this is the way he adapts the second subject in the recapitulation so that it works in the tonic key despite being in the dominant the first time it appears.

ORCHESTRAL WIND & BRASSThe orchestral wind and brass generally had a more active role in classical works other than concertos. In Mozart’s rondo movement, their function is to give the tutti sections a fuller and more incisive sound by:

Raising the general dynamic level�Creating a contrast of timbre�Producing crisper articulation by giving notes stronger attacks than the strings are �able to produce

Strengthening the sense of pulse�Adding harmonic filling, producing a broader, richer overall texture�Emphasising the tutti sections in this way focuses attention onto the dialogue between solo and tutti sections, making the structure of the movement easier to hear.

OBOES

In Mozart’s time, oboes, although a useful solo instrument, were not considered as agile as violins. Due to this, they tend to have fewer solos and were written technically less challenging parts. In this movement, the oboes generally play only in the tutti sections described in the table above. In the rondo theme restatements, they thicken the harmony in a range that lies between the first violins and second violins. Their parts have rhythmic rather than melodic interest: in the rondo theme sections (e.g. bars 9–16), they emphasise the two main beats of the bar for most of their two four bar phrases, turning to quavers at the end of their phrases. In these passages, the first oboe has a simplified version of the first violin line, and the second adds harmonic filling.

OBOESFor the short interjections in the ‘B’ sections of the exposition (which are heard again in the recapitulation), they

double the string octave unison line in quavers in bars 36–7 and add extra attack to the short string chords in

bars 46–8 and 52–4 with short quavers.

In the tutti at bar 186, Mozart gives the oboes the melody line which, with its slurred and staccato quavers based on broken chords and repeated notes, is the most technically demanding music for the instrument in the movement. However, this is not exposed since it is doubled in octaves by the whole string section.

Again, oboes supply harmonic filling around the register of the first violins with the repeated suspensions in bars 191–197 (reinforced by the orchestral horns an octave lower) and in bars 206 to 210 have a few moments of independence, adding a cadential progression in the gaps between the solo horn’s arpeggio phrases.

ORCHESTRAL HORNSPairs of horns were commonplace in the orchestra of the late 18th century. As they were limited to the notes of the harmonic series in which they were crooked and rarely used hand-stopping, they tended not to play much melodic material beyond short scalic and arpeggio-like ideas based on tonic and dominant chords. Their main functions were:

Adding volume to loud passages

Adding rhythmic interest with repeated notes and notes emphasising the pulse

Thickening harmonies

„Playing pedal notesIn this concerto movement the orchestral horns have a similar role to the oboes and play in virtually the same places, but there are subtle differences in what they play.

ORCHESTRAL HORNS

In the rondo theme passages (e.g. bars 9–16), they have a more rhythmic part than the oboes, with several bars of repeated quavers. They also have different notes, which are an octave lower and are limited by what the horns can play. At bar 46–8 they have repeated sustained notes rather than the quaver line of the other parts and in bars 46–8 they play repeated quavers on the same pitch in contrast to the chords and quaver line in the other parts.

In the tutti starting at bar 186, they play repeated quavers for the first bar, but then drop out as they cannot play the notes of the unison melody in the oboes and strings. They re-enter for the passage at bars 191–197, where they provide harmonic filling an octave below the oboes (notice the difference between the 2nd horn and 2nd oboe parts in bars 192 and 194). In the final passage, they play a tonic pedal in octaves (bars 195–210) andend with repeated notes, adding rhythmic energy to the final three bars.

STRINGS

The string section is the most important group of instruments in the Classical orchestra and in this concerto movement. In the orchestra of Mozart’s day, the strings generally played for the majority of the time and tended to have the most important musical material. The first violins usually played the bulk of the melodic material, the cellos and basses provided the bass line, while the violas and second violins supplied inner harmony, countermelodies and textural interest: the strings tended to have more important parts than wind and brass instruments. As the Horn Concerto K.495 only contains two wind and two orchestral brass instruments, the strings dominate the accompaniment to an even greater extent than normal. The string textures, although mostly accompanimental, are highly varied. There are contrasts between homorhythmic and more contrapuntal textures; light, detached passages and more sustained ones; and octave unison passages and those that are harmonically rich. Here are some examples of some of the textures used in the movement:

STRINGS

VIOLINS

In the classical orchestra, the first violins were the most important part, playing most of the melodic material and playing for most of the time. They tended to play the uppermost line, although flutes and oboes would sometimes be higher. The first violins tended to have the most demanding material out of all the orchestral parts, as violin playing at the time was technically more advanced than that on other orchestral instruments. The second violins played in a lower range and tended to have a less important role. They often shadowed the top melody line at a lower pitch, commonly a third, sixth or octave below. At other times they combined with violas to play accompaniment material and from time to time had countermelodies.

VIOLINS

In this concerto movement, the first and second violins have a wide range of different types of material, including:Melodic material (e.g. bars 9–16)Repeated notes (17–23)Slurred legato lines (24–27)Held notes (39–42)Loud triple-stopped chords (46–8)Staccato broken chords in quavers (189–190)�Repeated (‘scrubbed’) semiquavers (191–196)�

VIOLINS

As the solo horn has the main melodic material in the solo sections, the firsts play mostly accompaniment material in these passages. In the places where they have the main melody (generally the tutti sections), the seconds shadow them at the unison (e.g. 106–108) or with a lower part staying mostly a third below (24–27) or an octave below the firsts (e.g. 9–11). In some places there is dialogue between the firsts and seconds (e.g. 110–120) and the seconds play an inverted pedal note on the open G string at bar 88–90.

VIOLA

The viola part in the Classical orchestra was initially fairly simple music based on harmonic filling but, as the period progressed, composers (especially Mozart, who was a viola player as well as a violinist) wrote more and more adventurous parts for the instrument.

Often they form a unit with the second violins, together playing interesting textures which fill out the harmony between the bass line and the top line (examples in the set work movement are bars 147–150 and 205–210). At other times, they help to bring out the cello/bass line by doubling it at the unison or an octave higher (examples are bars 88–91 and 191–196) and another function is to add harmonic filling (e.g. bars 129–132).

VIOLA

They are occasionally given important melodic material: there is an instance of divisi in the viola part (the violas split into two groups) at bars 99–105, where they double the violins an octave lower; they have short countermelodies in bars 110–119; and they shadow the firsts a sixth lower at bars 58–60. The viola part is not too technically demanding, although there are double stops at bar 11–12 and a short semiquaver run at bar 12.

CELLOS & BASSESIn the Classical orchestra in Mozart’s time, the cellos and basses played the same line except in occasional places where the cellos played on their own: the bass line was in effect doubled in octaves, with the basses playing the cello part an octave lower. In the set work movement, the cellos and basses play the lowest part throughout. The harmony tends to change once or twice per bar, and the rhythms in the bass line tend to follow this harmonic movement. However, to avoid monotony, Mozart varies the note lengths in the bass line to suit the character of the music, so that at times it has a light, detached feel while at others is more sustained, examples of this being:

Two notes per bar, crotchet followed by quaver rest (b.1–3)�Two notes per bar, quaver followed by two quaver rests (b.203–4)Two notes per bar, two dotted crotchets (b.19, 96–98)One note per bar, crotchet followed by rests (b.20–21)One note per bar, dotted minims (b.85–87)One note per bar, dotted minim slurred to crotchet (b.23–32)�

CELLOS & BASSES

Other material that the cellos and basses play include:

Pedal notes (e.g. bars 60–66, 157–160 and 205–210)Unison string passages in quavers (e.g. 151–2 and 186–190)�Quaver passages doubled by violas (e.g. 41–2, 52–3, 169–170, 191–196)Short runs of semiquavers to join two phrases of the rondo theme (e.g. bars 4, 12)Repeated notes (e.g. b.211)

COMPARISON OF ORCHESTRATION:HANDEL & MOZART

The general development of the orchestra from Handel’s to Mozart’s time is not perhaps best exemplified in the two OCR set works, as the Handel omits the basso continuo and the Mozart uses a smaller orchestra than in his later symphonies. However there are significant differences that might be tested in a comparison question in the OCR exam.

Task: Draw a table to compare the orchestration of Handel’s Water

Music and Mozart’s Horn Concerto

COMPARISON OF ORCHESTRATION:HANDEL & MOZART

Handel Mozart

Scored for two oboes, bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets and

strings

Scored for 2 oboes, 2

horns, 1 solo horn and strings

In the first movement, the orchestra is split into two

groups, which alternate for most of the movement

The orchestra is split into solo and tutti groups, which

alternate for much of the movement

Oboes and bassoons often function as a unit Oboes and orchestral horns generally play as a unit in

tutti sections

Horns use only open notes Orchestral horns use only open notes, but solo horn also

uses handstopped notes

Contains solo parts for pairs of brass instruments: horns

and trumpets

Contains solo part for a single instrument: horn

Volin 1 has a lot of the melodic material in non-solo

sections

Violin 1 has most of the melodic material in non-solo

sections

Viola part is rudimentary and fills in harmony Viola part more involved adding melodic and textural

detail

Cellos and basses play together with bassoon for most

movements

Cellos and basses play together throughout

Each wind part would have been played by more than one

performer

Wind parts are meant to be played by single players

Orchestra split into groups for several movements Orchestra split into solo (strings+solo horn) and tutti

groups (strings + wind)

TRANSPOSITION IN MOZART’S HORN CONCERTO

Both the orchestral and solo horns in Mozart’s K.495 concerto are written out in the score as transposing parts in E flat. This enabled natural horns to play in different keys, but rather than writing out the sounding pitch of what they played, it was common practice to write their parts in C.

For a horn, ‘in E flat’ means that when a player plays a written C in their part, the note that they produce is an E flat a major sixth (or nine semitones) lower. So to work out the notes that a horn in E flat actual plays (the concert pitch ), count down nine semitones below the written pitch.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS

How does Mozart’s use of the orchestra in Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major K.495, 3rd Movement, reflect the style of his time?

�Describe the treatment of stringed instruments/brass instruments in Mozart’s Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major K.495, 3rd Movement.

�Compare the handling of brass instruments in Handel’s Water Music Suite no.2 and Mozart’s Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major K.495, 3rd Movement.