Mozart still incorporated some elements of the older Baroque style concerto, where the soloist also played along with the orchestra in the tutti sections. That's the reason for those introductory licks. I agree, they make less sense if you're playing with piano accompaniment. On the other hand, it's a chance to get some air moving before launching into the solo exposition. (I'll spare you further exegesis on the sonata/concerto - as a recent retiree, I'm enjoying my first Christmas season of NOT marking a huge pile of analysis papers!)
Happy holidays to all, and good luck with all your exams and papers to all the students (and profs) out there. KJellrun Quoting [email protected]: > I know I only have a bachelor's degree in Music, but I did fairly well in > my theory and analysis classes so I'm wondering if I'm correct or wrong in > this assumption: > > When auditions call for the exposition only for a Mozart concerto, it's > fairly easy to determine what they mean with the 1st and 2nd concertos. > However with the 3rd concerto, I was always unsure about playing the very > short > segment of the introduction which is present in at least the Schirmer > editions, and so the last few times I played it on a recital I only started > > playing at what was obviously the exposition (introduction of the theme) and > let > the piano or whoever play the full introduction. I could have been wrong, > but it was just something I felt was a better way to perform it - why give > away the show before the theme starts? Most concerti in the classical > period don't let the soloist play until the introduction of the theme and > maybe > it was some joke by Mozart so that the performer could make sure the right > crook was in? Or maybe the act of buzzing a few very quiet notes on the > horn before you actually play is something Mozart noticed only horn players > > doing and wanted to make it part of the concerto? Either way, maybe I'm > crazy, but it just seems odd for it to be written that way. > > Of course, for the 4th concerto, the introduction is the longest and the > horn passage in the introduction of the first movement at least to me sticks > > out like a sore thumb. So, why is it in there? To me, the theme and > exposition doesn't start until the horn player plays the Bb arpeggio on > whole > notes, so why not just omit that section for performances and auditions? > You're > in unison with the violins or piano anyway. > > I'm not a historian, and I don't want to start some huge argument. I could > be completely wrong about my ideas, but maybe I'm not the only one who saw > the introduction passages for the Horn as out of place? Is this an > incorrect assumption? > > -William > > > _______________________________________________ > post: [email protected] > unsubscribe or set options at > https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/hestekin%40mun.ca > _______________________________________________ post: [email protected] unsubscribe or set options at https://pegasus.memphis.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/options/horn/archive%40jab.org
