Mozart's early concertos, 1773-1779: Structure and expression

While Mozart wrote most of his greatest piano concertos after his move to Vienna in 1781, his career as a composer of concertos actually began much earlier. During the late 1760s and early 1770s, Mozart arranged sonata movements by other composers as concertos, and from 1773 to 1779 he went on to compose 17 original concertos for a variety of media. The intent of this thesis is to concentrate on the first movements of these early concertos, and to trace the development of compositional concepts that constitute the foundation of his later style.;The research results show that some stylistic features of Mozart's concerto style remain fixed from the beginning while others change in the course of the decade. Changes indicate both processes of stylistic development and compositional preferences. Aspects that develop chronologically are the increased use of derived material and larger range of keys in the development, intermovement tonal connections, and the incorporation of secondary themes from Ritornello I in the recapitulation. All of these features indicate Mozart's growing preference for a more integrated structure. Moreover, subtle changes in the tutti-solo relationship evince processes of long-range planning. Indeed, the delicate balance between the realization of sonata form and the tutti-solo opposition of Ritornello form constitutes the great achievement of Mozart's concerto style. The confrontation and resolution of these two forms meet most vividly in the recapitulation section where reformulations, maximum topical variety, new themes, local modulations, reorchestrations, and the integration of themes from Ritornello I (especially secondary themes) within the recapitulatory design simultaneously create climactic effects and secure formal stability.;The analysis concentrates on three main aspects: (1) Structural issues including gross form, proportional lengths of the movement's sections, keys found in the development, thematic content, peak notes, and tutti-solo interaction. (2) Expressive issues defined in terms of the movement's topical content, and the rate of topical change within each section of the movement. (3) Changes in the recapitulation in comparison to Solo I. This section explores in detail the degree to which the treatment of topics is interrelated with structural concerns.