Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Piano Concerto No. 6 (Mozart)

The Piano Concerto No. 6 in B major, K. 238, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in January 1776. His Concerto No. 7 (K. 242) for three pianos and his Concerto No. 8 (K. 246) in C major would

Music#

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two French horns, solo piano, and strings. It is a lightly textured work from early in Mozart’s career. The work is structured in three movements:

I. Allegro aperto#

The first movement, in sonata form, is marked Allegro aperto. “Aperto” literally means “open”, an attribute often used in Mozart’s early concertos, and while the exact meaning Mozart intended is unknown, it conveys “radiance and gaiety”, as the pianist Angela Hewitt notes. Mozart provided a short cadenza.

II. Andante un poco adagio#

In the second movement, in E major, two flutes replace the oboes of the first movement. The music is simple and gentle. Hewitt traces elements of the Andante in the Concerto in C major, K. 467: “the use of a triplet accompaniment, muted strings, and a pizzicato bass”. She notes a “marvellous effect of chiaroscuro” by switching between major and minor keys, a technique adopted in many of his later works.

III. Rondeau: Allegro#

In the final Rondeau, the oboes return instead of the flutes, but the horns receive prominence. Hewitt recalls, that Mozart asked his sister once to remind him “to give the horns something worthwhile to do”. They contribute to the dance-like character of the movement. A section in G minor is called “the one really virtuoso page of the concerto, requiring some very nimble Baroque-style fingerwork”. Mozart wrote another short cadenza, with rests that still should be improvised by the soloist.

Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart