Piano Concerto no.21 in C major K.467
Allegro maestoso – Andante – Allegro vivace assai

“There are passages here and there from which the connoisseurs alone can derive satisfaction; but these passages are written in such a way that the less learned cannot fail to be pleased, though without knowing why…” (Mozart in a letter to his father in 1782)

Mozart wrote twenty seven piano concertos, the first, for the harpsichord, at the age of 4. The present concerto was completed at around the same time as number 20, in D minor K.466 in time for the “academy season” of 1785 in Vienna. This season lasted from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday and offered a busy succession of concerts organised by various societies and artists. Mozart wrote both of these concertos for his own use at two academies held “for his benefit”, meaning that he could keep the proceeds.

K. 467 was designed for an academy held in the Burgtheater on 10 March. 1785 was an extremely busy year for the Mozarts (Mozart was now self-employed and made his money from both composing and teaching). On 12 March 1785, Leopold Mozart (Mozart’s father) wrote to his daughter: “We never get to bed before one o’ clock and never get up before nine. We lunch at two or half past. Every day there are concerts; and the whole time is given up to rehearsing, music, writing and so forth. .It is impossible for me to describe the hustle and bustle..”

Within a span of six weeks Mozart not only played in seven of his own academies, but also contributed solo appearances and compositions to concerts given by musicians from his circle of friends. Hence, K.467 was officially completed the night before its first performance, but was not published until after Mozart’s death.

Early keyboard concertos were written by, among others, C.P.E. Bach, J.C. Bach and Haydn.  J.S. Bach, in his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto, was one of the first to elevate the keyboard part to the most prominent position among the instruments. These early works, with their alternation of orchestral passages and passages for solo display, in turn owed their structure to the tradition of Baroque arias. Mozart adopted this form for the first movements of his own sonatas and was greatly influenced by Haydn, whom he met in Vienna.

1784 heralded the composition of Mozart’s more mature sonatas in which he put forward his own solution to the ongoing problem of how the thematic material is dealt with by the orchestra and the early fortepiano ie. he manages to maintain a balance between a symphony with occasional piano solos and a virtuoso piano fantasia with orchestral accompaniment. His later concertos are truly described as concertos for “piano and orchestra” rather than the more obviously “piano” concertos of the nineteenth century.

The first movement of the present concerto is written in “ritornello” form ie there is a lengthy orchestral introduction before the piano entry in bar 74. Having introduced itself, the piano then announces a new theme, only to have this taken up by the orchestra in turn whilst the piano plays virtuosic scale passages in accompaniment. Throughout the movement, piano and orchestra take it in turns with various themes.

It is thought that in Mozart’s time, the keyboard player would often provide a continuo whilst the orchestra played. This was possible as the fortepiano was a quieter, more orchestral sounding instrument than the present day concert grand.Towards the end of the first movement there is a substantial piano cadenza, in this case, written by Andreas Schiff, to replace the original which has been lost.

The cantabile second movement, in F major, was used in the film “Elvira Madigan”. (The film dates from 1967 and is the doomed love story of a Danish tightrope-walker and a Swedish officer.) The music is, no doubt, better than the film and is a stunning example of pure lyricism introduced into a classical sonata.

The third movement returns to the home key of C major and is a lively, upbeat rondo, again culminating a cadenza written by Andreas Schiff.

“The concerto as Mozart left it, and the piano concerto in particular, was transformed almost beyond recognition. In place of the stereotyped virtuoso vehicle and the facile conversation piece cultivated by even the best rococo composer, Mozart left a form in which the subtlest tonal variety played a prime part in the formal, colouristic and expressive cohesion of large-scale structures..” Jeremy Siepmann