Horn Concerto No. 2 (Mozart)

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

• I. Allegro maestoso
• II. Andante
• III. Rondo Più allegro 6/8^[1]

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."^[2]

This is one of two horn concerti of Mozart to omit bassoons.^[3] 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.^[4]

Discography

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

References

1. ^ 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."
2. ^ Andrew Steptoe, Mozart. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. (1997): 94
3. ^ Martha Kingdon Ward, "Mozart and the Bassoon" Music & Letters 30, 1 (1949): 9
4. ^ Ralph Leavis, "Mozart's Last Horn Concerto" Music & Letters 34, 4 (1953): 316

External links

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