The first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453 is marked with an allegro. It has 349 bars composed in 4/4. The allegro incorporates an orchestral ritornello, recapitulation, a solo exposition and a development. In the opening orchestral ritornello, it starts with the introduction of the initial theme through the use of violins and several woodwind supplement figures marked by a cadenza. The beginning phrase of the first movement begins on a tonic which refers to the initial scale degree of the diatonic scale. It then transforms to IV and goes back to tonic. What follows are small figures played using the woodwinds accompanied by violins clearly stating V (Precipotato, N.p). While going back to the tonic, the piece shifts instantaneously with full orchestra starting the theme of transition. The transition introduces the second theme which is played by the string. After several phrases of strings marking the melody segment of the composition, woodwinds and violin ornamental figures are incorporated giving a pleasing balance and contrast from the first theme. The second theme leads to the last theme that brings about the solo exposition and ends in a forte whereby the piano is not played (Oláh 191).
A notable thing in this movement is that the themes presented are all the same only that they were played using different instruments. Also, the tonality of the movement has its modulation moving from major to minor key. However, the movement has been identified as a major key because the minor key is only played momentarily (Oláh 189).
Regarding instrumentation, there is the use of woodwind instruments which create the woodwind timber. The used timbre is also complemented with the melody that exhibits a very sparse and hanging note. Generally, the movement can be categorized as a polyphony in relation to texture since it has more than two simultaneous lines all having independent melody (Kristine, Andrew, and Joseph 36).
The composer of this piece, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a very popular and influential composer during the classical period. He was born in the Roman Empire and developed an interest in music at a very young age. History has it that he started writing his own compositions when he was six years old. It is even noted that he wrote his first opera known as Mitridate Re di Ponto when he was 14 years old. Regarding the piece under discussion, he wrote it when he had settled in Vienna particularly in the year 1984. While growing up, Mozart drew his inspiration from other popular and influential composers such as Bach, Haydn and Handel. However, it is his father who made him gain an interest in music when he was very young. Therefore, it can be asserted that his style; the classical piano concerto was a product of Bach, Haydn and Handel classical music styles. Through the classical piano concerto style that Mozart created, he wrote more than 500 religious music that were diverse in nature (Oláh 185).
Works Cited
Kristine Forney, Andrew Dell'Antonio, and Joseph Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, 13th edition. New York: W.W. Norton, 2018.
Oláh, B. E. (2017). VARIATION FORM IN MOZART’S PIANO WORKS. Studia Universitatis Babes-Bolyai-Musica, 62(1), 185-202.
Precipotato. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Piano Concerto No. 17 In G Major, K. 453". Youtube.Com, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fciaxuZY6zA.
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