| Abstract |
In this discussion of the development of Mozart's specific piano style, the author provides pertinent musical examples within a chronological framework of Mozart's life and work, examining the fluidity of keyboard practice in the eighteenth century, Mozart's remarkable involvement with all contemporary keyboard instruments, and the way in which his eventual preference for the piano marked his compositions and changed musical history. In the late eighteenth century, a profound transformation of keyboard practice occurred. The piano supplanted the harpsichord, and the keyboard instrument exchanged its former continuo role for a new solo role. The author explains Mozart's pivotal involvement in this transformation by dividing his life and career into three distinct periods. First, he looks at Mozart's extraordinary childhood, which produced the singular experiences and opportunities that helped form his early career. The author then examines Mozart's early piano works and the pianistic idioms that shaped their style. In Mozart's early maturity, he cultivated certain piano genres--the solo sonata and ensemble sonata as well as smaller solo works and the concerto. The author particularly examines Mozart's Concerto in E-flat Major K. 271, written in 1777, which in its new level of keyboard virtuosity represents a decisive advance in pianistic style. In the last decade of his life, Mozart was exceptionally prolific. The concertos of this period attest to his fully developed pianistic style as well as to his perfection of the classical concerto form. And Mozart's chamber music and solo keyboard works from these last years are additional testimonials to the composer's stylistic innovations. Indeed, in his last two piano concertos and in a group of small solo works, Mozart takes the forms of his era to their limit, creating a musical transition to the nineteenth century. This book is an indispensable addition to the library of music historians, pianists, and Mozart enthusiasts. |
