Piano Concerto No. 18 (Mozart)
The 18th Piano Concerto in B flat major, K. 456 is a piano concerto by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. According to a different census, it is the 12th piano concerto by the composer.
Formation
The 18th piano concerto was written, like its predecessor, in 1784 in Vienna. He wrote this work with great probability for the pianist Maria Theresia Paradis. The concert will be counted among the so-called military concerts, since it begins with a march-like main theme in the first movement. The concert is reminiscent in places of Mozart's own opera The Abduction from the Seraglio by in 1782. Moreover, it seems to be inspired in some passages of Johann Christian Bach's well-known Concerto in B flat major.
About the Music
Allegro vivace
The main clause begins with a restrained and not tutti presented the topic in march rhythm. Only the at times to minor -turning transition to the second theme brings the orchestral tutti. The solo exposition of the piano starts without Entrée with the main theme. Between the two issues, there is used a mediating subject, which is not a third separate issue, but rather an imaginative reconciliation. The development begins with a new idea before some motifs are processed from the exposure. Again, the recapitulation no literal repetition of the exposition is, but leaves the main theme by the solo piano add new additions. The ensuing cadenza also processed motifs from the main theme and has a total of less virtuosic than the cadences of some previous concerts.
Andante sostenuto
The Andante is a profound set of variations in G Minor represents the opening bars of the main theme cite aria # 10 from the opera The Abduction from the Seraglio. The piano does not participate in the presentation of the topic, but continues with the first variation of a. With a repetitive moment the solo piano plays around the tender melody. From the second variation, the respective repetition of the variation is also varied, as is already the case in the final Rondo of the 17th piano concerto. The piano now plays around the theme with elaborate figurations. The third variation is now the dramatic climax of the movement and of the whole concert dar. In severe Forte minor chords of the orchestra tutti the subject is outlined, accompanied by a roiling bass in rapid upward movements. The piano each responds with a soothing, intimate gesture. There is a full tutti solo variety here. The variation ends piano in E flat major and forwards so on to the fourth variation. This is in G major and is initiated by the winds. Here the subject is significantly shortened and reduced to twice eight bars. In the last variation, the G minor returns, the issue here is greatly plays around. Instead of repeating the variation follows an extended coda which ends the poignant sentence.
Allegro vivace
The final Rondo begins with a hilarious theme of the solo piano. The orchestra chorus this topic on quickly and runs it completely. It follows, unusually, a new issue of the solo piano, but which does not represent the first couplet. Again, one can speak of a complementary first topic here. The first couplet is then executed in F major. Harmonious interesting is the second couplet, which is in B minor, chromatic in relation to the basic key of B flat major. The wind plays here first in a 6 /8 time, but then change to 2/4 stroke, with strings and piano for the time being remain in the old clock, which is why there is konkurrentierender rhythm between piano and orchestra. After the rule conformity repetition of the chorus and first couplet, followed by a rollicking solo cadenza, which is more demanding than their counterparts in the first sentence. The movement ends with a Schlussritornell, which is contested jointly by piano and orchestra.
Status
The 18th Piano Concerto does not bring so many new features and peculiarities such as the previous 17th Piano Concerto. The work belongs to the so-called military concerts, because it has a march -like main theme in the first movement. Similar to the subsequent 19 piano concert or in a weakened form the 16th Piano Concerto. The instrumentation in this concert is extremely varied. The orchestral apparatus is assembled in a variety of ways and the obligatory long brass make in some places again represents a third body of sound striking the quote is from an aria of Abduction from the Seraglio in the second set. So this deeply inward and emotional movement reminds one hand to Mozart's past. On the other hand he has in different melodic phrases already on Ludwig van Beethoven. The final Rondo comes up with a harmonious innovation in the music of Mozart. For the first time there is a chromatic relation between the sentences, which at this time was very rare and was found only in individual cases at Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Joseph Haydn. The B minor of the Rondo is chromatically the increased level of B -major basic key of the concerto. In the course of music history, the work will prevail with chromatic relations between the sets themselves.