In 1777 Mozart wrote a concerto, or rather his only concerto for

oboe, which was played and premiered by the oboist of the Salzburg
court chapel, Giuseppe Ferlendis. Later that year, Mozart was
commissioned by an amateur flutist, Ferdinand De Jean to write 3
simple flute concertos and a few quartets to which Mozart only
completed 2 concertos and 3 quartets. Since then, the original
score for the Oboe concerto has been lost and fragments of copies
that were made were found by Austrian conductor, composer, and
Musicologist Bernhard Paumgartner in 1920. The scores that
Paumgartner found seemed to be an almost identical copy of the
flute concerto and has since been proven to actually be the only
Oboe concerto that Mozart has written and that it is in fact original.
Oboist Ingo Goritzki has since published a version of the Oboe
concerto and states The flute concerto lost its status as an original
work, proving on closer inspection to be the oboe concerto
transposed a whole step upward to D major (1)

Goritzki suggests in his edition that the concerto be played exactly

like the flute concerto and claims that the flute concerto is an exact
transposition of the oboe concerto and that the parts that
Paumgartner found are not in fact legitimate. Although Paumgartner
claims the opposite, the Oboe concerto is in fact the original, proven
by translations of Mozarts letters and is in fact not simply a
transposition but a rework of the Oboe Concerto in C to the Flute
concerto in D, proven by some of the major differences between
both concertos.

I.) Although valid through his reasoning, Goritzkis claim that the
flute concerto is simply a transposition is not entirely true.

A.) He states that Paumgartners score for the Oboe concerto

is not authentic
1.) Paumgartner justifies the fact that the fragments of
the oboe concerto are authentic Based on his
correspondence with Mozarts family and from other
sources (2)
2.) The origin of the parts for the flute concerto is still
unknown today, whereas the parts of the Oboe version
stem, according to Paumgartner, from the inheritance of
Mozarts son (2)
3.) On a small slip of travel paper Mozart wrote down
a short phrase of the first movement with slight
modifications (3)

B.) The Actual definition of a transposition in itself help to

prove that Goritzkis claim is not entirely correct.

4.) Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Oboe Concerto in C major K.314. Ed. Ingo
Goritzki. G Henle Verlag. IV
5.) Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Concerto in C major for Oboe and Orchestra
KV. 314 (285d). Barenreiter. V
6.) Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, Concerto in C major for Oboe and Orchestra
KV. 314 (285d). Barenreiter. V
 1.) This makes sense because to transpose literally
means to take a piece of music and to simply move it
into another key.

C.) Its hard to know exactly what differs in terms of both the
flute concerot and the Oboe concerto
1.) This is due to the fact that the original autograph
scores of the Oboe concerto has been lost
2.) It is also unknown as to where the parts for the flute
concerto originated from.

3.) The Oboe concerto was recreated using the scores

and arts from the flute concerto and the fragments of
the Oboe concerto that was discovered by Bernhard
Paumgartner.

II.) The part differences between the Oboe and flute concerto as well
as the significance in the keys both concertos were written in.

A.) Sadie states that the flute concerto is a virtually exact

transposition of the Oboe work with some changes in
articulation and in a few details of the configuration to
accommodate the flutes different capacities.
1.) The Oboe part has more of a crisp characteristic in
the articulation and neat melodic shaping
2.) The flute part has more of a virtuosic characteristic
in the way its written and how some of the simpler
passages have been elaborated to show off the flutes
technical capabilities

B.) There are also many differences in the way Mozart has
rewritten some of the technical passages that are in the Oboe
Concerto that has been made significantly more difficult in the
flute concerto.
1.) The articulation, due to the improvisational aspect of
Mozarts music are mostly left to the discretion of the
performer.
a.) The scores in Mozarts music were generally
meant to be more of a guideline and as a starting
point and isnt meant to be followed like a strict
recipe
b.) The articulations in both of the concertos are
usually left to the discretion of the performer.
2.) Some of the notational differences in either of the
score is what makes each concerto unique and the way
Mozart has reworked each piece to tailor that of which
each instrument can do
a.) The triplet passages in the Oboe part are
elaborated and are written in the more
complicated forms of 16th note passages in 3rds.
1.) Dimond, A Mozart Diary, 110
2.) Kenyon, The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart, 199.
 b.) Although there are some parts in the flute
concerto that is transposed over from the oboe
concerto due to Mozarts lack of time and some
parts are changed in hopes that De Jean wont
notice any difference between the oboe concerto
and the flute concerto.
3.) Mozarts Oboe concerto is written in C major which to
him, and many other classical composers tend to
associate with a militaristic feel.
a.) A lot of classical composers associated the key
C major with military symphonies such as a lot of
Haydns C major symphonies.
4.) Mozarts Flute concerto is written in C major which to
him, and many classical composers tend to associate
with virtuosity.
a.) Many parts of the flute concerto have more
showy and virtuosic passages that are simpler in
the oboe concerto.

III.) Mozart disliked the flute, and more so is the fact that De Jean
was an amateur flutist.

A.) Mozart at the time of the commission of the flute concerto

was in Mannheim and was surrounded by some of the worlds
finest professionals and due to the fact that he was low on
money, he ended up writing for De Jean who was an amateur
flutist who offered him 200 ducats for the commission.
1.) Peter Dimond writes that: He (Mozart) has finished 2
concertos and 3 quartets for M. De jean, but he
becomes powerless when he has to write for an
instrument he cannot bear. (1)
2.) Nicholas Kenyon writes that: Not only was it the fact
that Mozart disliked the flute, he also disliked the fact
that the was writing for an amateur. (2)

B.) Mozart was low on time and needed the money so he

chose to rewrite the Oboe concerto in order to save time.
1.) Since De Jean had already heard the concerto, he
had hoped that by chancing and rewriting it, instead of
directly transposing it from the Oboe concerto, De Jean
would not notice the fact that its practically the same
piece.
2.) Mozart hoped De Jean would see the flute concerto
as a new work, since it is like its own piece.
3.) Mozart also rewrote the flute concerto in order to
hide the fact that it was only the oboe concerto
reworked in D major for the flute.

Conclusion:

1.) Dimond, A Mozart Diary, 110

2.) Kenyon, The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart, 199.
In opposition to what Goritzki says about the Oboe concerto and
how its only been transposed into the key of D for the flute, I
believe that through research, Ive found this to be false. I believe
that the flute concerto is an arrangement of the Oboe concerto, or
rather a rework of the Oboe concerto to suit, that which fit what
Mozart believed, the flute could do.

I.) Although Goritzky justified the fact that the flute concerto was
only a transposed version by stating that the score that
Paumgartner found may not be authentic he also neglects to point
out the fact that the flute score may also be unauthentic and
neglect facts that could counter act his arguments.

II.) The flute concerto was actually reworked and arranged to fit that
which is flute-like (as Mozart described) and in correlation with the
key D major which Mozart assimilated with virtuosity, many of the
changes that Mozart made within the concerto, it simply enhanced
the virtuosity of the piece.

III.) Not only did Mozart not simply transpose the oboe concerto to
be a flute concerto, but he also had to change it due to the fact that
De Jean had already heard the piece, but Mozart made changes in a
way thats simple yet very sophisticated in the way that it
showcases the strength of the flute and still have it be different
enough from the Oboe Concerto.

1.) Dimond, A Mozart Diary, 110

2.) Kenyon, The Faber Pocket Guide to Mozart, 199.