Horn Concerto No. 2 (Mozart)

Horn Concerto in E-flat major
Horn Concerto in E-flat major
No. 2
by W. A. Mozart
	The composer in 1782
Key	E-flat major
Catalogue	K. 417
Genre	Concerto
Style	Classical period
Composed	1783
Movements	Three (Allegro maestose, Andante, Rondo – Più allegro)
Scoring	Horn; orchestra;

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417 was completed in 1783.

The concerto is scored for solo horn and an orchestra of two oboes, two horns, and strings. This is one of two horn concerti of Mozart to omit bassoons.^[1] It is also one of Mozart's two horn concerti to have ripieno horns (horns included in the orchestra besides the soloist), though in contrast to K. 495, the solo horn in this one does not duplicate the first ripieno horn's part in the tutti passages.^[2]

Mozart's good-natured ribbing of his friend is evident in the manuscript inscription "W. A. Mozart took pity on Leitgeb, ass, ox and fool in Vienna on 27 May 1783."^[3]

The finale of the concerto was used in various movies and TV shows such as Little Einsteins and JFK.

Structure[edit]

The work is in three movements:

Allegro
Andante (B-flat major)
Rondo Allegro, Più allegro 6/8^[4]

Discography[edit]

Given its duration (no more than 20 minutes), the Concerto is typically grouped with Mozart's other 3 for the instrument. The foremost example ^[5] is Dennis Brain's November 1953 recording of the four horn concertos on EMI with The Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

2018: Javier Bonet (horn); Munich Radio Orchestra, Hermann Baumann (conductor), ARSIS. A recording with all the Mozart horn Concertos including the Rondó KV 371 and the Horn quintet KV 407

References[edit]

^ Martha Kingdon Ward, "Mozart and the Bassoon" Music & Letters 30, 1 (1949): 9
^ Ralph Leavis, "Mozart's Last Horn Concerto" Music & Letters 34, 4 (1953): 316
^ Andrew Steptoe, Mozart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1997): 94
^ Jean-Pierre Marty, The Tempo Indications of Mozart. New Haven & London: Yale University Press (1988): 43. "The very absence of sixteenths is also an incentive towards overly fast tempos, and this is why the finales of the Horn Concertos K.386b, 417 and 447 are almost always performed faster than 88/264. Yet, the finale of K.417 ends with a coda marked Più allegro, and the finale of the fourth horn concerto (K.495), though very similar in style to the other three, is marked Allegro vivace."
^ (1988 Penguin Guide, p679)

External links[edit]

Concerto in E flat K. 417: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
Horn Concerto No. 2: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project

[1] Martha Kingdon Ward, "Mozart and the Bassoon" Music & Letters 30, 1 (1949): 9

[2] Ralph Leavis, "Mozart's Last Horn Concerto" Music & Letters 34, 4 (1953): 316

[3] Andrew Steptoe, Mozart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1997): 94

[4] Jean-Pierre Marty, The Tempo Indications of Mozart. New Haven & London: Yale University Press (1988): 43. "The very absence of sixteenths is also an incentive towards overly fast tempos, and this is why the finales of the Horn Concertos K.386b, 417 and 447 are almost always performed faster than 88/264. Yet, the finale of K.417 ends with a coda marked Più allegro, and the finale of the fourth horn concerto (K.495), though very similar in style to the other three, is marked Allegro vivace."

[5] (1988 Penguin Guide, p679)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

v t e Concertos and other concertante works for brass instruments by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concertos	No. 1 in D major, K. 412 No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417 No. 3 in E flat major, K. 447 No. 4 in E flat major, K. 495
Lost	Trumpet Concerto, K. 47c Sinfonia Concertante for flute, oboe, horn, bassoon and orchestra, K. Anh. 9/297B
Doubtful	Sinfonia Concertante for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon and orchestra, K. 297b/Anh. C 14.01
List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Köchel catalogue

Authority control databases
National	France BnF data
Other	MusicBrainz work