FRIDAY UPDATE: Hey, what about the Dvořák Violin Concerto? Well, especially since we're focused on rondo finales, Dvořák needs to be here -- has anybody used the form better? (Note, by the way, how closely bunched in time the Brahms, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák concertos are. Isn't this kind of amazing?)
by Kenrondo n. Music. A composition having a principal theme that occurs at least three times in its original key between contrasting subordinate themes.-- The American Heritage Dictionary of the
English Language, 3rd ed., 1992
No, Mozart didn't invent either the rondo (as we know it from the Classical era) or the idea of plunking it into emerging Classical sonata-form forms, let alone the idea of making it the standard way of rounding out the shape of the emerging Classical concerto. In the 1770s, it was just in the air. And if there's one thing that Mozart, growing out of adolescence into young adulthood, was alert to, it was what was in the air music-wise.
We know that he was interested early on in this newfangled kind of concerto that was coming into being. Goodness knows there'd been a ton of concertos in the now-passed Baroque era, but the burgeoning Classical world was developing something significantly different, and the 19-year-old Mozart had a good idea that he could do something with it.
MOZART SURE FIGURED OUT FAST WHAT THE RONDO COULD COULD DO FOR HIM -- AND HE COULD DO FOR THE RONDO
Which is why we're going to start our rondomania quick hit with the binge of concerto-writing Mozart did in 1775. As I mentioned in this week's main post (or, rather, main pre-post: "(Maybe one more little pre-post?) No, these 14 bars aren't The Most Beautiful Music Ever Written; they're what comes right after it"), these audio files were ready to go, and I'm putting them up in raw form so they'll be available for listening. And once the raw form is posted, I can listen to them too, and who knows? Maybe I'll figure out something to say about them.
[NOTE: While I don't usually include dates in composition listings, I've done so here since our vantage point here is the Mendelssohn E minor Violin Concerto and the place of its rondo finale in the line of the landmark violin concertos.]
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 2 in D, K. 211 (1775):
iii. Rondeau: Allegro
Itzhak Perlman, violin; Vienna Philharmonic, James Levine, cond. DG, recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Vienna Musikverein, June 1985
Gidon Kremer, violin; Vienna Philharmonic, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, cond. DG, recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Vienna Musikverein, December 1984
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216 (1775):
iii. Rondeau: Allegro
Zino Francescatti, violin; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in the American Legion Hall, Hollywood, Dec. 10-17, 1958
Pinchas Zukerman, violin and cond.; St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. Sony, recorded in O'Shaughnessy Hall, St. Catherine's University, St. Paul, 1981
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 4 in D, K. 218 (1775):
iii. Rondeau: Andante grazioso -- Allegro non troppo
Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin and cond.; London Philharmonic Orchestra. DG, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, July 2005
Maxim Vengerov, violin and cond.; UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. EMI, recorded in the Salle Métropole, Lausanne, Aug. 16-18, 2006
MOZART: Violin Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219 (Turkish) (1775):
iii. Rondeau: Tempo di menuetto
Isaac Stern, violin; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, George Szell, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in Severance Hall, Cleveland, Apr. 19, 1963
Pamela Frank, violin; Tonhalle Orchestra (Zurich), David Zinman, cond. Arte Nova, recorded in the Tonhalle, Jan. 27-29, 1997
ALERT READERS WILL HAVE NOTICED THAT WE SKIPPED OVER MOZART'S FIRST VIOLIN CONCERTO
And there's a simple reason: The first of Mozart's five violin concertos doesn't have a rondo! As written, it concluded with a Presto in sonata form, something Mozart never did again in a concerto. It should be noted that that Mozart's First Violin Concerto, long thought to date, like its four successors, from 1775, turns out to have more separation from them, not just stylistic but chronological -- scholarship has back-dated it, likely as far back as 1773.
And at some point -- likely in 1776, which would be after all of Mozart's known violin concertos had been written -- he apparently retrofitted No. 1 with the rondo we're about to hear. One of the delights of music history is hearing the compositional leap he made from No. 2 to No. 3, and the continuing growth he underwent in creativity and resourcefulness as he proceeded to Nos. 4 and 5. Easy as it is to patronize No. 1 and (perhaps even more) No. 2, they're still Mozart, and they still get a fair amount of play. Interestingly, over the two-and-a-half-centur span, No. 1 is performed, performers seem to have found the replacement rondo an uncomfortable fit, and when K. 269 is performed it's almost always as a stand-alone Rondo.
Rondo for Violin and Orchestra in B-flat, K. 261a/269 (c1776)
[apparently written as an alternate finale for the Violin Concerto No. 1 in B-flat, K. 207 (c1773)]
David Oistrakh, violin and cond.; Berlin Philharmonic. EMI, recorded in the Gemeindehaus, Berlin-Zehlendorf, Sept. 1, 1971
Itzhak Perlman, violin; Vienna Philharmonic, James Levine, cond. DG, recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Vienna Musikverein, June 1985
OF COURSE, MOZART FIGURED OUT PRETTY QUICKLY
WHAT HE COULD DO WITH THE NEWFANGLED CONCERTO
(And from there, there was no going back!)
Although Mozart never had the occasion or desire to write another solo-violin concerto (the Sinfonia Concerante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra, K. 364, almost qualifies), he was far from finished with the concerto. The great run of piano concertos still lay ahead, as did nearly all of the wind concertos. I've always thought that the format of a soloist sometimes with and sometimes against an orchestra energized the sense of drama that made him such an extraordinary opera composer. And he would find, not surprisingly, a striking variety of ways in which the rondo finale could be tailored to top off a concerto.
And it continued satisfying the needs of more than a century's worth of great concerto-writers.
BEETHOVEN: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 61 (c1806):
iii. Rondo: Allegro
Zino Francescatti, violin; Columbia Symphony Orchestra, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in the American Legion Hall, Hollywood, Jan. 23 & 26, 1961
Itzhak Perlman, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra, Carlo Maria Giulini, cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, Sept. 14-15, 1980
MENDELSSOHN: Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64 (1844):
iii. Allegretto non troppo -- Allegro molto vivace
Fritz Kreisler, violin; Staatskapelle Berlin, Leo Blech, cond. EMI, recorded in the Berlin Singakadamie, Dec. 9-10, 1926
Fritz Kreisler, violin; London Philharmonic Orchestra, Sir Landon Ronald, cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, Apr. 8, 1935 (transfer by F. Reeder)
Jascha Heifetz, violin; NBC Symphony Orchestra, Arturo Toscanini, cond. Broadcast performance, Apr. 9, 1944
Jascha Heifetz, violin; Boston Symphony Orchestra, Charles Munch, cond. RCA, recorded in Symphony Hall, Feb. 23 & 25, 1959
Nathan Milstein, violin; New York Philharmonic, Bruno Walter, cond. Columbia, recorded in Carnegie Hall, May 16, 1945
Nathan Milstein, violin; Swiss Festival Orchestra, Igor Markevitch, cond. Live performance from the Lucerne Festival, from the Kunsthaus, Aug. 12, 1953
Nathan Milstein, violin; Vienna Philharmonic, Claudio Abbado, cond. DG, recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Vienna Musikverein, Mar. 12-13, 1973
David Oistrakh, violin; USSR State Symphony Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, cond. Melodiya, recorded Oct. 25, 1949
David Oistrakh, violin; Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia, recorded in the Academy of Music, Dec. 24, 1955
BRAHMS: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 77 (c1878):
iii. Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo
Leonid Kogan, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra, Kirill Kondrashin, cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, Feb. 22 & 26, 1959
Nathan Milstein, violin; Vienna Philharmonic, Eugen Jochum, cond. DG, recorded in the Grosser Saal of the Vienna Konzerthaus, Dec. 14, 1974
TCHAIKOVSKY: Violin Concerto in D, Op. 35 (1878):
iii. Allegro vivacissimo
Jascha Heifetz, violin; Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, cond. RCA, recorded in Orchestra Hall, Apr. 19, 1957
Isaac Stern, violin; Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in the Broadwood Hotel, Mar. 23, 1958
DVOŘÁK: Violin Concerto in A minor, Op. 53 (1879):
iii. Finale: Allegro giocoso, ma non troppo
Josef Suk, violin; Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Karel Ančerl, cond. Supraphon, recorded in the Rudolfinum, Prague, August 1960
Maxim Vengerov, violin; New York Philharmonic, Kurt Masur, cond. Teldec, recorded live in Avery Fisher Hall, January 1997
SIBELIUS: Violin Concerto in D minor, Op. 47 (1904-05):
iii. Allegro, ma non tanto
David Oistrakh, violin; Philadelphia Orchestra, Eugene Ormandy, cond. Columbia-CBS-Sony, recorded in the Broadwood Hotel, Dec. 21, 1959
Ginette Neveu, violin; Philharmonia Orchestra, Walter Susskind cond. EMI, recorded in Abbey Road Studio No. 1, Nov. 21, 1945
STILL TO COME --
We've got some "Mozart rondo bonuses," focusing on two early concertos and the Bassoon Concerto in B-flat, K. 191, of which we're going to hear not just their Rondos but the whole things; and Mozart's first "original" piano concerto, No. 5 in D, K. 175 (the concertos included in the standard 1-27 numbering, Nos. 1-4, are piano-concerto arrangements of movements in other forms by other composers).
We're also going to hear the Bassoon Concerto and the Sinfonia concertante complete -- the former because, well, I don't know when we're likely to have another occasion to give attention to the charming little Bassoon Concerto, and the latter because it's just such a glorious piece that I don't see how we can in good conscience do just a drive-by hit on its Rondo.
In fact, I'm feeling itchy about all the wonderful concertos we've similarly quick-hitted, and I've got this idea that we might attempt run-throughs of all of them. I have to investigate for feasibility.
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