Horn Concerto No. 2 (Mozart)

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 2 in E-flat major, K. 417 was completed in 1783. The work is in three movements:

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."[1]

This is one of two horn concerti of Mozart to omit bassoons.[2] 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.[3]

[edit] Discography

Given its duration (no more than 20 minutes) it is quite common to find this Horn Concerto on the same CD as Mozart's other three, or in boxed sets of Mozart's concerti for wind instruments or even all his concerti. The Naxos Records CD "Complete Works for Horn & Orchestra" includes, besides the concerti, three rondos for horn and orchestra completed by musicologists.

William Purvis has recorded No. 2 along with No. 3, K. 447, with the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for Deutsche Grammophon, on a disc which also includes Mozart's Oboe Concerto, K. 314 and Bassoon Concerto, K. 191. Like the other two soloists, Purvis improvised his own cadenza for the two horn concerti on the disc.[4]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Andrew Steptoe, Mozart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1997): 94
  2. ^ Martha Kingdon Ward, "Mozart and the Bassoon" Music & Letters 30, 1 (1949): 9
  3. ^ Ralph Leavis, "Mozart's Last Horn Concerto" Music & Letters 34, 4 (1953): 316
  4. ^ 423 6232 Product Info from Deutsche Grammophon website.
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Horn concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart