Talk:Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra (Mozart)

Suggestion for more material

This article would seem to need additional material, something along these lines:

(anonymous program notes from Google)

W.A. MOZART 1756-1791 Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola in E flat K 364

Andante maestoso Andante Presto

Every so often during the early part of his career Mozart produced a work (one thinks of the early G minor symphony or the E flat piano concerto K 271) which is of such stature as to tower above the level of his own extraordinary developing genius. The Sinfonia Concertante, written in Salzburg in 1779, is another such a deeply felt masterpiece for which there seems to be no precedent in the works written immediately beforehand. Gone are the last traces of the galanterie and charm of the early 1770s, and in their place is a new mood and a new depth of sonority. Mozart had visited Mannheim the previous year, and whilst the influence of the Mannheim Style's very much in evidence, the results are achieved with very simple resources, and it is hard to believe that the orchestration remains identical to the one used for the violin concertos written four years earlier, namely two oboes, two horns, and strings. In the majestic opening tutti of the first movement, which hardly leaves the tonic key, Mozart announces six themes and then, true to the spirit of the concertante style, lavishes as many more new melodies, mostly stated by the soloists, on the exposition and development. A notable feature of this movement is the use of the long dramatic crescendo that Mozart must surely have heard at Mannheim. As the opening tutti dies away there is a moment of pure enchantment as the soloists enter on a long sustained octave unison to begin their marvellous dialogue. When eventually the recapitulation is reached their original roles are reversed, with the viola playing the material first given to the violin. Mozart's own cadenza, far from being merely a display of virtuosity, heightens the tension before the short closing tutti in which can be heard the final mutterings of the Mannheim crescendo on lower strings just before the brusque coda. The great C minor andante, with its drooping phrases and poignant chromatic harmonies, bears comparison with any of the finest slow movements in Mozart's later concertos. Perhaps the death of the composer's mother a few months earlier lies behind the eloquent sense of grief, almost despair, that pervades the whole movement and is epitomised by the semi-quaver phrases which throb persistently in the violas throughout the opening tutti. The nucleus of the movement, perhaps of the whole work, is the final sixteen bar cadenza which ends in a chromatic climax of almost unbearable poignancy, before the orchestra quietly brings the movement to a close. As if as a release from the previous tensions, the finale sets off at a tremendous pace and seems to exalt in a sense of freedom which, although still a product of youth, is tempered now by a mature sense of proportion and balance. The movement is in fact a rondo with two episodes, in which Mozart, again remaining true to the concertante principle, gives the soloists several melodies which they keep almost entirely to themselves. Instead of a joint cadenza, as in the first two movements, each of the solo instruments soars to the very top of its compass (the violin to top E flat, the highest note Mozart ever wrote for the instrument) before the resolute concluding tutti which brings to an end this great and forward-looking masterpiece.

212.171.76.219 (talk) 22:17, 23 January 2017 (UTC)

Wrong image

The image 'Manuscript_kv364.jpg' is not of the Eb violin/viola concertante KV364, seeing as it gives 3 concertante instruments, is in a sharp key, and is not the right music ... it seems to for of the incomplete A major 3 instrument concertante KV Anh.104 or 320e. --Tdent (talk) 16:19, 17 July 2022 (UTC)

I agree. Someone noticed this on Commons in January 2014 when they added a comment (misspelling "320" as "3230") to that effect on File:Manuscript kv364.jpg. That image was taken from page XIX of the NMA's V/14/2. A page from K. 364 is in that publication 2 pages earlier. I suggest to remove the wrong image here, request a rename at Commons, and use it in the article Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, Cello and Orchestra (Mozart). -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 16:52, 17 July 2022 (UTC)