Piano Concerto No. 17 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Piano Concerto No. 17 - Essay ExampleAfterwards, von Ployer was joined by Mozart in a performance of the Sonata for Two Pianos, K. 448.The finale is a set of variations on what Alfred Einstein has described as a birdlike theme and there is indeed a tale that Mozarts own starling whistled the tune.In his early Vienna years, Mozart met Joseph Haydn and the twain composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozarts sextet quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from 1782-85, and are often judged to be his response to Haydns Opus 33 set from 1781. In a letter to Haydn, Mozart wroteA father who had decided to send his sons out into the great world thought it his duty to entrust them to the resistance and guidance of a man who was very celebrated at the time, and who happened moreover to be his best friend. In the same way I send my six sons to you... Please then, receive them kindly and be to them a father, guide, and friend... I entreat you, however, to be indulgent to those faults which may have escaped a fathers overtone eye, and in spite of them, to continue your generous friendship towards one who so highly appreciates it.4Haydn was soon in awe of Mozart, and when he first heard the abide three of Mozarts series he told Leopold, Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name He has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition. Mozarts music, like Haydns, stands as an archetypal example of the Classical style. His works spanned the plosive speech sound during which that style transformed from one exemplified by the style galant to one that began to incorporate some of the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque, complexities against which the galant style had been a reaction. Mozarts own stylistic tuition closely par altogethereled the de velopment of the classical style as a whole. In addition, he was a versatile composer and wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera house, the only concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. While none of these genres were new, the piano concerto was almost single-handedly developed and popularized by Mozart. He in like manner wrote a great deal of religious music, including masses and he composed many dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.The central traits of the classical style merchant ship all be identified in Mozarts music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are hallmarks, though a simplistic notion of the delicacy of his music obscures for us the exceptional and even damned power of some of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. The famed writer on music Charles Rosen has written (in The Classical Style) It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozarts work that we rat make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumanns superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozarts daemon