Franz Xaver Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 1, 2

Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1825) by Karl Gottlieb Schweikart [de] (1772–1855)

 

(26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844), also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jr., was the youngest child of six born to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze. He was the younger of his parents' two surviving children.[1] He was a composer, pianist, conductor, and teacher of the late classical period whose musical style was of an early Romanticism, heavily influenced by his father's mature style.

 

Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 14 (1808)

Dedication: Hedwig de Luttichau and Julie de Luttichau

1. Allegro maestoso (0:00​) 2. Adagio (11:00​) 3. Rondo. Allegretto (18:29​)

Klaus Hellwig, piano and Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester conducted by Roland Bader

 

Piano Concerto No. 2, in E-flat major,Op. 25 (1818)

Dedication: Son Altesse Imperiale Madame la Grande Duchesse Marie Paulowne, Princesse héréditaire de Saxe-Weimar 1. Allegro con brio (0:00​) 2. Andante espressivo senza ornamenti (13:07​) 3. Rondo; Allegretto (17:05​) Klaus Hellwig, piano and Kolner Rundfunk-Sinfonie Orchester conducted by Roland Bader

 

 

The two piano concertos differ somewhat. The first concerto could pass for one of his father's late (K. 550 and above) works except for a youthful exuberance and the piano's tessitura[음역] which had been expanded in 1795, just after Mozart senior died. The second concerto is more contemporary to the 1810s with a more virtuosic piano part showing hints that the younger Mozart was developing his own style.

 

Franz dedicated his 2nd Concerto to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia (1786–1859) who was a lifelong patroness of art, science and social welfare. She maintained a lifelong correspondence with Vasily Zhukovsky and it was to her that Schiller dedicated one of his last poems. She attended ten courses at the University of Jena, some delivered by Alexander von Humboldt, and was instrumental in establishing the Falk Institute in Weimar. She selected, as tutor to her son Charles Alexander, the Genevan Frédéric Soret, who became well acquainted with Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In her later years, Maria Pavlovna invited Franz Liszt to her court, restoring a measure of artistic excellence previously associated with Weimar. He was appointed Kapellmeister Extraordinaire in 1842, and settled there from 1848 (after giving up the concert platform) until after her death. However, the Duchess's growing deafness prevented her from enjoying the premiere of Wagner's opera Lohengrin under Liszt's direction in Weimar on 28 August 1850. Most famous were the "Literary Evenings (Literarische Abende)" where scholars from the neighboring Jena University and others from outside the Grand-Dukedom were invited to give lectures on various topics. This circle was a focus in post-classical Weimar.

 

Franz Xaver Wolfgang had a relatively small output (his opus numbers only go up to 30) and after 1820 he seems to have given up composing almost entirely; in particular, there is an 11-year gap (1828 to 1839) when he seems to have not written anything. Nevertheless, recordings of his music can be found today. He wrote mainly chamber music and piano music, with his largest compositions being the two piano concertos.