2007,22,223-240

J. J. Quantz G. Trk C. P. E. Bach

223

224

Mozart: The Function and Formal

Structure of Piano Concerto First
Movements Cadenza
Mei-Wen Lee *

Abstract
Mozart wrote fifty-one cadenzas for his own piano concertos, and seventeen
of them are for the first movement. The main focuses of this research are to
investigate how Mozart utilized the materials in the cadenza, what is the form of
the cadenza and what is the function of cadenza within a concerto .
We are not sure why Mozart wrote these cadenzas. However, through
analyzing them, they all showed the contrast between lyrical voicing and virtuoso.
They are quite fit into the principle and style of the late eighteenth century
important treatises such as J.J. Quantz, C.P.E. Bach and D. Trk.
The cadenza of Mozart can be divided into three sections. The first section
starts with a theme of the concerto or a virtuosic passage. The uses of materials
are either new or derived from the concerto. The harmony such as the root
position is to be avoided in order to create the instability. It usually concludes in
a dominant fifth or the six-four chord in the first degree and lead into the second
section. The following section applies all kinds of sequences by using the themes
or motives from the concerto. Here, Mozart prefers materials that derive from the
lyrical second theme. All kinds of virtuosic scales and arpeggios that are based
on the six four of the first degree will lead the second half of the second section
into the last section. The last section should continue the virtuosic passages and
lead into the concluded long dominant trill.
Mozarts cadenzas always follow the standard idioms of the late
eighteenth-century treatises, regardless of the length, the key, musical materials
or the interrelationship within the concerto. Clearly, the function of the cadenza
in the first movement of Mozarts concerto the first movement is to reinforce the
tonal function at the ending of recapitulation. While playing the cadenza, the
piano soloist joins the procedure of confirming and resolving of the final
cadence.
Key words: W.A. Mozart, piano concerto, cadenza
*

Professor, Department of Music, National Sun Yat-sen University.

225

(Final Tutti)

(Cadenza)

(Joachim Quantz)

(Paul Badura-Skoda) 2

Johann Joachim Quantz, On Playing the Flute(1752), trans. and ed. Edward R. Reilly ( London: Schirmer, 1966 ), 181.

Paul Badura-Skoda, Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard, (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986), 215.

226

(C. P. E. Bach)(Essay on the True Art of Playing

Keyboard Instruments, 1753, 1762)(On Playing the Flute, 1752)
(D. G. Trk)(School of Clavier Playing, 1789)

(Cadenza)(cadence)

5
6

9
3

D. G. Trk,

School of Clavier Playing(1789), trans. and ed. Raymond H. Haggh ( Lincoln & London: University of

Nebraska Press, 1982 ), 309.

C. P. E. Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments (1762), trans. and ed. William Mitchell ( New York:

W. W. Norton, 1949 ), 380.

Pippa Drummond, The German Concerto: Five Eighteenth-Century Studies, ( Oxford: Oxford Univeristy Press, 1980),

318.
Eva Badura-Skoda, Cadenza, The New Grove III, 591.

Quants, 182.

Trk, 311-12.
Quantz, 185.

227

10

11

(Tosi)
12

13

14

(Cadenza-ed away) 15

16

10

Trk, 312.

11

Trk, 313.

12

P. F. Tosi, Eng,

13

Observations on the Florid Song(1743), trans. J. E. Galliard (London: print for J.Wilcox, reproduction of

original from the British Library , 1987 ), 128-129.

Quantz, 180-181

14

Quantz, 180.

15

Trk, 309.

16

Trk, 311.

228
17

18

19

20

21

17

C. P. E. Bach, 431.

18

Quantz, 184.

19

Trk, 311.

20

Trk, 310-311.

21

P. Badura-Skoda, 219-220.

229

22 ( 1)( 2)

212-17

K.
414()
IIVii V / IV IV 6 4V
6

vii

7 / V V(

6
4

)I 6 IV4VV 7
6

22

P. Badura-Skoda, 215.

230

( 3)
3

231

232

A( ii / V ) E( V / V )
(
4)

( 5)

( 6)

47-15

54-12

233

614-17

(I)(a)( 1)(b)
( 7)
(II)
(III)
23

(K.
413414459453 )(K.
415449450459488595414 )
(K. 459595414 456 )(K. 413415459595
23

P. Badura-Skoda, 216.

234

453 453 )

()
()

K. 413
K. 415
K. 449
K. 450
K. 451
K. 459
k. 488
K. 595
K. 414
(I)
K. 414
(II)
K. 453
(I)
K. 453
(II)
K. 456
(I)
K. 456
(II)

(Fortspinnung)24

24

P. Badura-Skoda, 228.

235

()

K. 413

410

32

7.8 %

K. 415

336

22

6.5 %

K. 449

373

28

7.5 %

K. 450

308

29

9.4 %

K. 451

359

33

9.2 %

K. 459

445

35

7.9 %

k. 488

313

30

9.6 %

K. 595

363

36

9.9 %

K. 414

I. 337
II. 314

I. 39
II. 16

11.6 %
5.1 %

K. 453

I. 386
II. 387

I. 37
II. 38

9.6 %
9.8 %

K. 456

I. 399
II. 381

I. 35
II. 17

8.8 %
4.7 %

()()

25

25

P. Badura-Skoda, 215.

236

Bach, Carl Philipp Emmanuel. Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments.
Berlin, 1753, 1762. Trans. by William J. Mitchell, New York: W. W. Norton, 1949.
Badura-Skoda, Eva and Paul. Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard. Trans. by Leo Black.
London: Barrie and Rockliff, 1962.
Davis, Shelley. H. C. Koch, The Classic Concerto, and the Sonata-Form Retransition.
JM(1983/2): 45-61.
Drummond, Pippa. The German Concerto: Five Eighteenth-Century Studies. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1980.
Girdlestone, Cuthbert. Mozart and His Piano Concerto. Norman: University of Oklahoma
Press, 1952.
Isaacs, Nicholas Stephen. The Keyboard Cadenza. D. M. A. thesis, Stanford University,
1986.
Kramer, Richard. Cadenza Contra Text: Mozart in Beethovens Hands. 19 th -Century
Music (1991/15): 116-31.
Levin, Robert D. Instrumental Ornamentation, Improvisation and Cadenzas. Chap. 14 in
Part Two: The Classical Era. In Performance Practice: Music after 1600. Ed. by Howard
M. Brown and Stanley Sadie. New York: Norton, 1989.
__________. Improvised Embellishments in Mozarts Keyboard Music. Early Music
(May 1992): 221-33.
Neumann, Frederick. Ornamentation and Improvisation in Mozart. Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1986.
Quantz, Johann Joachim. On Playing the Flute. Berlin, 1752. Trans. by Edward R Reilly.
New York: Schirmer, 1975.
Robbins, Mary Lauren. Mozarts Cadenzas for the First movements of his Piano Concertos:
The Influence of Harmonic Symmetry on Their Function and Structure. D. M. A.
thesis, The University of Texas At Austin, 1992.
Sitton, Michael. Mozarts Cadenzas and Improvisations. Piano Quarterly 138 (Summer
1987): 39-44.
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musician. 20vols. London: Macmillan 1980. S.v.
Improvisation by Eva Badura Skoda, S. v. Cadenza by Eva Badura-Skoda.
Tosi, P.F. Observation on the Florid Song(1743). Trans. J.E. Galliard. London: print for
J.Wilcox, reproduction of original from the British Library,1987.
Trk, Daniel Gottlob. School of Clavier Playing. Leipzig & Halle, 1789. Trans. by

237

Raymond H. Haggh. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1982.

Whitmore, Philip. Unpremeditated Art The Cadenza in the Classical Keyboard Concerto.
Oxford: Clarendon, 1991.

Kraus, Lili. Ed. The Complete Original Cadenzas by W. A. Mozart for his Solo Piano
Concertos. Miami: Warner Bros. Publications, 1971.
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Konzerte fr ein oder menrere Klaviere und Orchester mit
Kadenzen, Band 1-8. New York: Barenreiter, 1956.
_____. Concerto for piano and Orchestra, K.413, K.414, K.415, K.449, K.450, K.451, K.453,
K.456, K.459, K.488, K.595. London: Ernst Eulenburg Ltd.

1.
(1) 1~7
(2) 811 220 ()
2. 12~13
1. 14
2. 15~19 32 ()
3. 20~22
4. 23~30 213 ()
1.

1. 18 296 ()

2. 5

1. 7~10
2. 11~16
3. 17~19 262 ()
4. 20 254 ()

1.

1. 1~6 17 ()
2. 7
3. 8~14

1. 15~22 63~69 ()
2. 23~24

1.

238

1. 1~25~6 141 ()
2. 37 88 ()( 48
)
3. 9~13 119 ()
1. 14~21 25~29 ()

2. 22~24
3. 25~27 76 ()

1.()

1. 1~2
2. 3~4 10 ()
3. 5~6
4. 7~20
5. 21~24 162~165 ()

1. 25~28 166~168 ()
2. 29~32 293~296 ()
1.

1. 373 ()
1. 8~17
2. 18~27
1. 27
2. 28~31 371 ()
3. 32~33 211 ()
4. 34~36

1. 1 282 ()
2. 2~6 158 ()
3. 7~9
1. 11~14 63 ()
2. 15~22
1. 23~24
2. 25~28 197 () 180 (
)

1. 1~3 146 () 309 ()

2.

1. 13~21
2. 22
3. 23~28 5~681 ()
4. 29~32

1.()

1. 1~2
2. 3~6 168 ()
3. 7~12

1. 13~19 72 ()
2. 20~28 100 ()

1.()

1. 50 () 256 (
)

1. 9~14 279 ()

1. 15~16

1. 1~7 1 ()
2. 8~10
3. 11
4. 12~14 153 ()

5. 15 184 ()
6. 16~17
1. 18~19 139 ()
2. 20~24
3. 25~26
4. 27~29
5. 30~31 114 ()
1. 32~33
2. 34~37

239

240

1. 1~2
2. 3~8 85~86 ()
3. 9~11
4. 12~18 126~132 ()
1. 19~27 269~276 ()
2. 28~31 ( 89 )
1. 32~36 40~41 ()
2. 37 126~127 ()
3. 38 85 ()

1. 1
2. 2~5 24 ()
3. 6

1. 7~13 1 ()
2. 14~16 126 ()

3. 17
4. 18~21 54 ()
5. 23~30 136 ()

1. 31~35 95 ()
2. 36

1. 1~8
2. 9~11
1. 12~13 54 ()
2.
1.