MOZART

Concerto for Horn and Orchestra

Eb major K 495

MOZART: BIOGRAPHY
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (17561791) was an
Austrian composer who is widely regarded as one of
the most significant classical composers. Active in
the Classical period (17501827), he was responsible,
along with Haydn, and later Beethoven, for taking
the relatively simple musical style of the early
Classical period and developing it into something
more sophisticated, expressive and refined. He
developed straightforward musical forms into
complex, large-scale structures, consequently
expanding the expressive range of the music.

MOZART: BIOGRAPHY
A child prodigy who could play the piano at age
three, the young Mozart was paraded round the
aristocratic courts of Europe by his father,
Leopold, and by the age of eleven, had already
composed his first opera. After further touring,
which took him to Italy, Germany and Paris,
Mozart returned to Austria, where he spent the
remainder of his life. He was extremely prolific
and in the last three years of his life produced an
astonishing stream of masterpieces, which include
the operas Cosi Fan Tutte and The Magic Flute,
the last three symphonies and the unfinished
Requiem. He died in 1791, and was buried in an
unknown location with others who
died at the same time.

MOZART: BIOGRAPHY
He composed in all genres of the time: serious
and comic operas, symphonies, concertos,
chamber music, keyboard music, vocal and choral
music. He was particularly important in
establishing the piano as a solo instrument and
also wrote important works for clarinet and
French horn that have become central to the
repertoire of those instruments. In opera, he not
only exploited the technical capabilities of the
human voice to an unprecedented extent, he also
found a musical way of depicting the complex
emotions and interactions of on-stage characters
that greatly surpassed the achievements of his
predecessors.

THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

The Classical period (roughly between 1750 and the death of Beethoven in
1827), followed the Baroque period (c.16001750) and was succeeded by the
Romantic Period (18271899). Its musical style was shaped by the
instruments and ensembles that were popular at the time, contemporary
musical tastes, the music of Baroque composers which was still known about
and performed, and growing interest from a general public outside of the
aristocratic courts who had less refined tastes than nobles.

THE CLASSICAL PERIOD

The classical style originated in the galant style of the mideighteenth century which used simple harmonies and sudden
contrasts of texture and dynamics, whose directness was
perhaps a reaction against the complex counterpoint and
chromaticism of the late Baroque period. As the eighteenth
century went on, this style was developed and refined, with
some of the contrapuntal complexity of late Baroque music
eventually being reintroduced, so that by the mid 1770s the
Classical style was a fully developed musical language.

Some general characteristics of music of the Classical period, all of which may be heard in the set
work, were:
The use of balanced phrasing (or question-answer phrasing), bringing about the feeling of a
musical conversation
Classical forms that had a particular emphasis on symmetry, balance and proportion: sonata
form, ternary form, variation form and rondo form were particularly popular
Strongly defined key relationships, particular that between tonic and dominant
Frequent cadences, particular perfect, imperfect and interrupted
A much more fexible harmonic rhythm than in Baroque music, ranging from very slow to fast
Expressive use of dissonances, such as suspensions and accented appoggiaturas
Ornamentation such as trills, appoggiaturas and mordents, that often give the music a graceful
quality
Mainly homophonic textures (melody and accompaniment textures are particularly common),
although contrapuntal textures also occur
Sudden contrasts of texture, instrumentation and dynamics, as well as crescendi and diminuendi
Use of certain types of figuration in accompaniment parts, such as repeated notes, and broken
chord patterns like the Alberti bass

One very important feature of the Classical period was the gradual
disappearance of the basso continuo, the group of instruments
usually containing a harpsichord or organ, that played the bass line
and filled out the harmonies in Baroque ensemble music. Composers
of orchestral music started to replace these figured bass
improvisations with their own written-out parts, which enabled them
to explore new textures of their own making, bringing a greater
fexibility and creativity to the art of orchestration. This became a
valuable tool for helping to define the musics structure and for
conveying particular moods.

The removal of the basso continuo also brought

about more subtle dynamic contrasts, with
sforzandi, diminuendos and crescendos
becoming commonplace, replacing the terraced
dynamics of Baroque music, which had tended
to be either loud or soft.

THE CLASSICAL CONCERTO

The Classical concerto was the successor to the Baroque concerto and bore many similarities to it. The
most
obvious was its alternation between tutti passages for the whole orchestra and solo passages for the
solo
instrument, with light accompaniment, which parallels the Baroque concerto grosso. The Classical
concerto
tended to have the following characteristics: .
usually in three movements, in the pattern fast slow fast
The first movement was usually in sonata form
The second movement was often in sonata form or variation form
The finale was often in sonata-rondo form
A cadenza (an improvisation for soloist alone) was often included towards the end of each movement
Mozarts favourite solo concerto instruments were piano (27 concertos) and violin (5) and he also wrote
concertos for fute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon and horn (4).

BACKGROUND TO MOZARTS HORN CONCERTO NO.4

Since Handel had included horns in the Water Music in

c.1717, horn playing had changed somewhat. Although pairs
of horns were fairly standard in the Classical orchestra of
the 1780s, they tended not to exploit the horns upper
register as much as Handel had done in the first half of the
18th century. However, round about 1760, a technique had
been developed known as hand-stopping, whereby a player
inserted their hand further into the bell of the instrument,
which had the effect of lowering a pitch by a semitone or
more. This meant that horn players could now play more
pitches than just those of the harmonic series, enabling
them to play more interesting melodies than previously.

BACKGROUND TO MOZARTS HORN CONCERTO NO.4

Mozart composed his four horn concertos for

a virtuoso Austrian horn player called Joseph
Ignaz Leutgeb (17321811). Leutgeb had
worked as a horn player around Austria from

Mozarts Horn Concerto no.4 in E fat

major,
K.495 was composed in 1786. It follows

the early 1750s, particularly in Vienna and

the fast- slow - fast three movement

Salzburg, and had appeared as a soloist as

design of the classical concerto, its

far afield as Italy, Paris and Frankfurt. Many

three movements being an Allegro

concertos were composed for him by

prominent early Classical composers,
including Dittersdorf and Leopold Hofmann.

Moderato, a Romanza and a Rondo

finale. Mozart must have enjoyed a

It is clear from Mozarts horn parts that

good friendship with Leutgeb: the

Leutgeb must have been particularly adept

autograph (i.e. original) score contains

at hand-stopping.

jocular comments by Mozart directed at

Leutgeb, and the dedication in another
concerto reads Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NO4phqQKfPA

and simpleton.

Flanders and Swann Horn Concerto

MARKINGS IN THE SCORE

THIRD MOVEMENT: ANALYSIS

For the final movement, Mozart used the standard form for
the last movement of a concerto, Sonata Rondo form. As its
name suggests, this is a fusion of sonata form and rondo
form:
Exposition
A
(tonic)

B
(domina
nt)

Developmen
t

Recapitulati
on

Development

A
(tonic)

B
(tonic)

Coda
Coda (tonic)

SONATA RONDO FORM

In the third movement of Mozarts Horn Concerto no.4, the Rondo theme is
played by the solo horn in the opening eight bars. Every time the theme
appears, it is immediately restated by the full orchestra. The coda is also
based on the rondo theme, but is not an exact statement.

SONATA RONDO FORM

The passages in between the rondo theme statements are the
second subject (B) and the development section, which act as
episodes (contrasting passages) between the statements of the
rondo theme. The B episodes can be further broken down into a
transition (in which the music modulates to the required key dominant in the exposition and tonic in the recapitulation), and the
second subject itself, a secondary theme which is in the tonic in
the exposition and the dominant in the recapitulation. The
development section explores different keys and also develops
some of the themes used in the exposition.

SOLO AND TUTTI SECTIONS

The orchestration of the movement alternates between passages marked solo and those
marked tutti. Solo passages are those in which the solo horn plays, almost always with just a
string accompaniment, which is normally marked piano. Tutti passages are sections in which
the whole orchestra plays. In this movement, the tutti passages are marked forte and coincide
with the four restatements of the rondo theme, at bars 9, 76, 129 and 186.

There are, however, short passages scored for tutti within some solo sections marked forte.
These tend to link the gap between the end of a phrase on the solo horn and the beginning of
another. They add interest to the music by breaking up the phrase structure and also give the
solo horn player a short rest to prepare for the next phrase. These short passages occur at:
Exposition, B section: bars 3638, 4648 and 5254
Recapitulation, B section: bars 151153, 161163 and 169171

In the Eulenburg score,

the solo horn doubles the
first orchestral horn in
the tutti passages, but in
many performances the
solo
horn
does
not
actually play in these

SOLO AND TUTTI SECTIONS

Other tutti moments include the chord in bar 178,
which announces that the coda is imminent (this is
the place where a cadenza would normally happen,
but Mozart omits the cadenza here); and bars 205 to
the end of the coda, whose tutti scoring allows the
movement to end in a convincing and emphatic
manner.

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

The writing for solo horn would not be especially virtuosic if it were for, say
violin, but for natural horn it is difficult for several reasons:
Because the harmonics are close together at the top of the instruments
range, it is easy to split notes (i.e. fall off a note or play the wrong note). As
the horn part is fairly rapid, the player has to have excellent control of their
embouchure (tension and position of the lips) and airfow to play the music
accurately.
Many of the lines contain rapid repeated notes, so the player needs to have
strong and consistent control of tonguing to produce an even and wellarticulated line.
Frequent handstopping is required to play the many notes Mozart writes
that are not in the harmonic series

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

Handstopping
In Handels time, horns were played like hunting horns, with the bell being held upwards. After 1750, it
was discovered that if the bell of the instrument was partially blocked, the pitch of the note produced
could be lowered by a semitone or a tone. This led to the design of a horn by a Dresden horn player called
Hampel (died 1771) with smaller coils. With this design of horn, when playing the standard open notes,
the player had their right hand inserted into the bell with the back of their palm resting against the inside
edge of the bell, allowing the air to pass out almost unobstructed. For stopped notes, they would push
their hand into the bell, in effect changing the length of the horns tubing. By this method, a pitch could
be lowered by up to a tone. However, handstopped notes had a quieter and more muffled tone, so players
had to compensate for this by adjusting the airfow. Most of the technical demands of the horn part of the
set work movement are therefore concerned with playing a melody containing handstopped notes evenly
and musically. For example the passage from 8899 has several stopped notes (written A, B, G sharp and
E fat) and other notes whose tuning would have to have been adjusted through lipping or subtle
movements of the hand in the bell: the F naturals in bar 94 and B fat in bar 96.

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

Other technical demands on the soloist would have been:
Fast repeated notes (b.1, 148150, 158160)
Ideas based on arpeggios and outlines of triads (2022, 3940, 48, 207
212)
Chromatic lines and notes altered by handstopping (625, 7277)
Wide leaps (e.g. an octave in b.8, 201)
Grace note (b.168)
High notes (e.g. written G in b.62, written A fat in b.144, written A in
b.154)
Low notes (e.g. written G below middle C in bars 208 and 210)

WRITING FOR SOLO HORN

Mozarts compositional skill is evident in the way he
writes a very natural-sounding, musical but also
virtuosic solo horn part despite only having access to a
limited number of notes. A good example of this is the
way he adapts the second subject in the recapitulation
so that it works in the tonic key despite being in the
dominant the first time it appears.

ORCHESTRAL WIND & BRASS

The orchestral wind and brass generally had a more active role in classical works
other than concertos. In Mozarts rondo movement, their function is to give the tutti
sections a fuller and more incisive sound by:
Raising the general dynamic level
Creating a contrast of timbre
Producing crisper articulation by giving notes stronger attacks than the strings are

able to produce
Strengthening the sense of pulse
Adding harmonic filling, producing a broader, richer overall texture
Emphasising the tutti sections in this way focuses attention onto the dialogue

between solo and tutti sections, making the structure of the movement easier to hear.

OBOES
In Mozarts time, oboes, although a useful solo instrument,
were not considered as agile as violins. Due to this, they
tend to have fewer solos and were written technically less
challenging parts. In this movement, the oboes generally
play only in the tutti sections described in the table above.
In the rondo theme restatements, they thicken the
harmony in a range that lies between the first violins and
second violins. Their parts have rhythmic rather than
melodic interest: in the rondo theme sections (e.g. bars 9
16), they emphasise the two main beats of the bar for most
of their two four bar phrases, turning to quavers at the
end of their phrases. In these passages, the first oboe has
a simplified version of the first violin line, and the second
adds harmonic filling.

OBOES
For the short interjections in the B sections of the exposition (which are heard again in the recapitulation),
they
double the string octave unison line in quavers in bars 367 and add extra attack to the short string chords in
bars 468 and 524 with short quavers.

In the tutti at bar 186, Mozart gives the oboes the melody line which, with its slurred and staccato quavers
based on broken chords and repeated notes, is the most technically demanding music for the instrument in the
movement. However, this is not exposed since it is doubled in octaves by the whole string section.

Again, oboes supply harmonic filling around the register of the first violins with the repeated suspensions in
bars 191197 (reinforced by the orchestral horns an octave lower) and in bars 206 to 210 have a few moments
of independence, adding a cadential progression in the gaps between the solo horns arpeggio phrases.

ORCHESTRAL HORNS
Pairs of horns were commonplace in the orchestra of the late 18th century. As
they were limited to the notes of the harmonic series in which they were
crooked and rarely used hand-stopping, they tended not to play much melodic
material beyond short scalic and arpeggio-like ideas based on tonic and
dominant chords. Their main functions were:
Adding volume to loud passages
Adding rhythmic interest with repeated notes and notes emphasising the pulse
Thickening harmonies
Playing pedal notes
In this concerto movement the
orchestral horns have a similar role to
the oboes and play in virtually the same
places, but there are subtle differences
in what they play.

ORCHESTRAL HORNS
In the rondo theme passages (e.g. bars 916), they have a more rhythmic part than the oboes,
with several bars of repeated quavers. They also have different notes, which are an octave lower
and are limited by what the horns can play. At bar 468 they have repeated sustained notes rather
than the quaver line of the other parts and in bars 468 they play repeated quavers on the same
pitch in contrast to the chords and quaver line in the other parts.

In the tutti starting at bar 186, they play repeated quavers for the first bar, but then drop out as
they cannot play the notes of the unison melody in the oboes and strings. They re-enter for the
passage at bars 191197, where they provide harmonic filling an octave below the oboes (notice
the difference between the 2nd horn and 2 nd oboe parts in bars 192 and 194). In the final passage,
they play a tonic pedal in octaves (bars 195210) andend with repeated notes, adding rhythmic
energy to the final three bars.

STRINGS
The string section is the most important group of instruments in the Classical orchestra
and in this concerto movement. In the orchestra of Mozarts day, the strings generally
played for the majority of the time and tended to have the most important musical
material. The first violins usually played the bulk of the melodic material, the cellos and
basses provided the bass line, while the violas and second violins supplied inner
harmony, countermelodies and textural interest: the strings tended to have more
important parts than wind and brass instruments. As the Horn Concerto K.495 only
contains two wind and two orchestral brass instruments, the strings dominate the
accompaniment to an even greater extent than normal. The string textures, although
mostly accompanimental, are highly varied. There are contrasts between homorhythmic
and more contrapuntal textures; light, detached passages and more sustained ones; and
octave unison passages and those that are harmonically rich. Here are some examples
of some of the textures used in the movement:

STRINGS

VIOLINS
In the classical orchestra, the first violins were the most important part,
playing most of the melodic material and playing for most of the time. They
tended to play the uppermost line, although futes and oboes would
sometimes be higher. The first violins tended to have the most demanding
material out of all the orchestral parts, as violin playing at the time was
technically more advanced than that on other orchestral instruments.
The second violins played in a lower range and tended to have a less
important role. They often shadowed the top melody line at a lower pitch,
commonly a third, sixth or octave below. At other times they combined with
violas to play accompaniment material and from time to time had
countermelodies.

VIOLINS
In this concerto movement, the first and second violins have a wide
range of different types of material, including:
Melodic material (e.g. bars 916)
Repeated notes (1723)
Slurred legato lines (2427)
Held notes (3942)
Loud triple-stopped chords (468)
Staccato broken chords in quavers (189190)
Repeated (scrubbed) semiquavers (191196)

VIOLINS
As the solo horn has the main melodic material in the solo
sections, the firsts play mostly accompaniment material in
these passages. In the places where they have the main
melody (generally the tutti sections), the seconds shadow
them at the unison (e.g. 106108) or with a lower part
staying mostly a third below (2427) or an octave below the
firsts (e.g. 911). In some places there is dialogue between
the firsts and seconds (e.g. 110120) and the seconds play an
inverted pedal note on the open G string at bar 8890.

VIOLA
The viola part in the Classical orchestra was initially fairly simple music
based on harmonic filling but, as the period progressed, composers
(especially Mozart, who was a viola player as well as a violinist) wrote more
and more adventurous parts for the instrument.
Often they form a unit with the second violins, together playing interesting
textures which fill out the harmony between the bass line and the top line
(examples in the set work movement are bars 147150 and 205210). At
other times, they help to bring out the cello/bass line by doubling it at the
unison or an octave higher (examples are bars 8891 and 191196) and
another function is to add harmonic filling (e.g. bars 129132).

VIOLA
They are occasionally given important melodic
material: there is an instance of divisi in the viola part
(the violas split into two groups) at bars 99105, where
they double the violins an octave lower; they have short
countermelodies in bars 110119; and they shadow the
firsts a sixth lower at bars 5860. The viola part is not too
technically demanding, although there are double stops
at bar 1112 and a short semiquaver run at bar 12.

CELLOS & BASSES

In the Classical orchestra in Mozarts time, the cellos and basses played the same line except in
occasional places where the cellos played on their own: the bass line was in effect doubled in octaves,
with the basses playing the cello part an octave lower. In the set work movement, the cellos and basses
play the lowest part throughout. The harmony tends to change once or twice per bar, and the rhythms
in the bass line tend to follow this harmonic movement. However, to avoid monotony, Mozart varies the
note lengths in the bass line to suit the character of the music, so that at times it has a light, detached
feel while at others is more sustained, examples of this being:
Two notes per bar, crotchet followed by quaver rest (b.13)
Two notes per bar, quaver followed by two quaver rests (b.2034)
Two notes per bar, two dotted crotchets (b.19, 9698)
One note per bar, crotchet followed by rests (b.2021)
One note per bar, dotted minims (b.8587)
One note per bar, dotted minim slurred to crotchet (b.2332)

CELLOS & BASSES

Other material that the cellos and basses play include:

Pedal notes (e.g. bars 6066, 157160 and 205210)

Unison string passages in quavers (e.g. 1512 and 186190)
Quaver passages doubled by violas (e.g. 412, 523, 169170, 191196)
Short runs of semiquavers to join two phrases of the rondo theme (e.g.

bars 4, 12)
Repeated notes (e.g. b.211)

COMPARISON OF ORCHESTRATION:
HANDEL & MOZART
The general development of the orchestra from Handels to
Mozarts time is not perhaps best exemplified in the two OCR set
works, as the Handel omits the basso continuo and the Mozart
uses a smaller orchestra than in his later symphonies. However
there are significant differences that might be tested in a
comparison question in the OCR exam.
Task:
Draw a table to compare the orchestration of Handels
Water Music and Mozarts Horn Concerto

COMPARISON OF ORCHESTRATION:
HANDEL & MOZART
Handel Mozart
Scored for two oboes, bassoons, 2
horns, 2 trumpets and
strings
Scored for 2 oboes, 2
horns, 1 solo horn and strings
In the first movement, the orchestra is
split into two
groups, which alternate for most of
the movement
The orchestra is split into solo and
tutti groups, which
alternate for much of the movement
Oboes and bassoons often function as
a unit Oboes and orchestral horns generally play as a unit in
tutti sections
Horns use only open notes Orchestral
horns use only open notes, but solo horn also
uses handstopped notes
Contains solo parts for pairs of brass
instruments: horns
and trumpets
Contains solo part for a single
instrument: horn
Volin 1 has a lot of the melodic
material in non-solo
sections
Violin 1 has most of the melodic
material in non-solo
sections
Viola part is rudimentary and fills in
harmony Viola part more involved adding melodic and textural
detail
Cellos and basses play together with
bassoon for most
movements
Cellos and basses play together
throughout
Each wind part would have been
played by more than one
performer
Wind parts are meant to be played by
single players
Orchestra split into groups for several
movements Orchestra split into solo (strings+solo horn) and tutti
groups (strings + wind)

TRANSPOSITION IN MOZARTS HORN

CONCERTO
Both the orchestral and solo horns in Mozarts K.495 concerto are
written out in the score as transposing parts in E fat. This enabled
natural horns to play in different keys, but rather than writing out the
sounding pitch of what they played, it was common practice to write
their parts in C.
For a horn, in E fat means that when a player plays a written C in
their part, the note that they produce is an E fat a major sixth (or nine
semitones) lower. So to work out the notes that a horn in E fat actual
plays (the concert pitch ), count down nine semitones below the
written pitch.

PRACTICE QUESTIONS
H
ow does Mozarts use of the orchestra in Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major
K.495, 3rd Movement, refect the style of his time?

Describe the treatment of stringed instruments/brass instruments in Mozarts

Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major K.495, 3rd Movement.

Compare the handling of brass instruments in Handels Water Music Suite no.2
and Mozarts Horn Concerto no.4 in E flat Major K.495, 3rd Movement.