Mozart Flute Concerto

Mozart composed many great works during his life, three of which are flute concertos, and also numerous orchestrated pieces, as well as opera hits. However, there is a great deal of speculation about Mozart’s attitudes towards writing flute oriented pieces, and whether or not he “rearranged” an oboe concerto in order to compose a piece suitable for his client’s needs, making us wonder if it is right to call his second Flute Concerto in D Major K.314, one of Mozart’s original works composed to display great skill and technique on the flute. In this paper I will use a few critiques to accurately display the accusations people have made against Mozart, and provide my own feedback into this situation.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can easily been

dubbed one of the greatest composers of all time. However, his relations to his flute compositions can be perceived as perplexed. Some researchers believe that Mozart did not have a very positive attitude while composing flute works, and the general story behind how Mozart’s second concerto was composed is one that wavers as well. In order to form an idea about this whole situation, however, it is important to first go back through some of the historically significant points in Mozart’s life.
Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756, and grew up being consumed by music. Starting with composing primarily symphonies and piano concertos, Mozart built up a repertoire of great works right from the start. He started composing in his childhood years at a mere age of eight, and his symphonies can easily fall into a 24 year time period of his life, starting very close to that same time. Mozart also composed numerous piano works, violin sonatas, and string quartets later on in life. One of the smaller, yet more prominent genres composed by Mozart is his concertos. Even though he composed quite a large number of these works, his collection of concertos is still smaller than his collections of symphonies and piano pieces. Mozart composed a great deal of piano concertos and violin concertos, along with a smaller number of horn and woodwind concertos. In order to find out when a piece was composed, one can look at the Kchel Catalogue number, found by locating the number behind the letter K or KV. This is similar to Bach’s BWV number catalogue, however Mozart’s works are listed chronologically. This means that the higher the number a piece has, the later in his lifetime it was composed. This is true for Mozart’s three flute concertos, as they can be found listed as K. 313, K. 314 and K. 315. The first work is Mozart’s “Flute Concerto in G Major, K.313” and the third is Mozart’s “Concerto for Flute and Harp in C Major, K.315”, both of which were composed between October 30, 1777 and April 1778. The main focus for this paper, however, is Mozart’s “Flute Concerto in D Major, K.314”, one of the most controversial “flute” concertos to date.
The path to this controversial D major concerto is a bit of a blur historically.

Some researchers say that Mozart ran out of time when composing this work, whilst others speculate that there was a problem with payment between Mozart and Ferdinand DeJean (1731-1797). Regardless of the reason, most concluded that the D major concerto is a mere transcription from Mozart’s “Oboe Concerto in C”. Douglas Worthen, a Southern Illinois University Carbondale Graduate Student, states that “In 1777, Mozart left for Munich, Mannheim, and Paris with his mother, in search of a position of stable employment. While in Mannheim, he became friends with members of the Mannheim orchestra, including concertmaster Christian Cannabich, Ignaz Holzbauer, and the flutist, 54 year-old Jean Baptiste Wendling. Wendling introduced Mozart to a Dutch amateur flutist named Ferdinand DeJean, who commissioned Mozart to write some quartets and concertos for flute “ (CITATION). This explains how Mozart met the amateur flute player that commissioned him, even though Mozart is seemingly bitter about composing flute works. One could almost conclude that Mozart reworked the oboe concerto for flute because he simply hated composing for flute. The piano transcription book entitled “W.A. Mozart” edited by Trevor Wye, explains “In a letter to his father on 14th of February 1778, Mozart wrote about the flute: ‘whenever I have to write music for an instrument I dislike, I immediately lose interest’” (CITATION). There are three possible reasons why Mozart could have made a comment like this. The first being that Mozart was aggravated by the fact that DeJean had not yet paid him in full for his commissions. Secondly, Mozart was not amused about writing for an amateur player as concluded by Kathleen Goll-Wilson and Robert Rawlins in the article “Mozart’s Flute Music” by saying “What probably put Mozart out of sorts was writing for the amateur flutist who couldn’t handle the tricky instrument;

traditionally the musician who commissioned a work was also the soloist” (CITATION). The third reason why Mozart may have expressed some bitter remarks is because he really may not have like composing flute works. Wilson and Rawlins also express “in most of Mozart’s letters his word order is careless and his syntax is vague, but in English translation by Emily Anderson, Mozart wrote, ‘Moreover, you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument that I cannot bear’” (CITATION). This can be somewhat taken off the list of reasons, however, because of all the beautiful and instrumental flute parts he had composed in previous works. Not only was Mozart bitter about the composition of the works for DeJean though, he also had a way of not paying his own debts. Maybe his bitterness was a reflection of his inability to pay off debts because DeJean failed to come through with proper payment. Wilson and Rawlins conclude their writing with “When he was in need, he had no qualms about asking friend for financial help, yet he never repaid a loan. Paradoxically, today those letters which bear his autograph are worth 100 times the amount he requested originally” (CITATION). While Mozart seemed like a thriving composer, and one who would be considered today’s Eric Whitaker, his monetary responsibilities were piling up as he tried to keep up the trends in composition in the late 1700’s.
In the critique written by Donald Francis Tovey, (late reid professor of music in the university of Edinburgh) published in the book “Essays in Musical Analysis”, Mozart’s second concerto is often compared to objects like furniture, or pottery. Although this may seem a little strange and peculiar, the point is better put across by Tovey. It was recognized in the beginning by Tovey that researchers had speculations about Mozart’s fondness of writing flute music. Tovey bluntly tells “as for the flute, whatever he may have said about it, he like it well enough to write two concertos, an andante with orchestra which is conspicuously lovely in tone and feeling, and two quartets for flute and strings which are by no means perfunctory”. (CITATION) Even some of the harshest critiques of Mozart’s music recognized his bitterness towards such composing. Even though much of his works normally would be consider early works in the time of Mozart’s life, Tovey states “Mozart was a mature artist in most art-forms at the age of twelve; and not even an opera can be dismissed as an ‘early work’ if he was twenty when he wrote it”. (CITATION) Some compositional details were also noted in this critique. Tovey noted that Mozart “took the flute seriously enough in these highly-finished little works: more so than in his supreme masterpiece “The Magic Flute”. (CITATION) “The Magic Flute” is one of Mozart’s most recognized operas that he composed. With this specific opera being based around a flute, it is without a doubt definitely not one of Mozart’s least favorite instruments.
Diving into the piece itself a little closer, Tovey shares his thoughts about the first movement. He explains the significance of the first introduction in comparison to the rest of the piece stating that “his opening tutti is short, though it summarizes the whole movement from the first subject”. (CITATION) There is also a short, yet humorous critique written about the end of the first movement of the second flute concerto by Mozart. Tovey suggests “at the end of the movement this figure tricks the Eminent Critique into giving the performers the exquisite pleasure of being blamed for deficient ensemble when they play the last bars accurately”. (CITATION) As one would clearly read in this writing, the author uses some perticulairly dry commentary.
In another critique written by Leonard Garrison, a different approach is taken. This writing focuses more on the performance aspects of the piece, and it compares different pieces to the time era when it was composed. This information can be of great use to any performer of the second concerto. Garrison starts off by stating in the very first sentence “Flutists sometimes treat Mozart’s Concerto #2 in D Major, K. 314 as a poor cousin to the Concerto #1 in G Major, K. 313. When they have a choice, nine out of ten candidates at the professional orchestral auditions perform the first movement of the G Major over the first movement of the D Major”. (CITATION) This provides us with great evidence to conclude that the first concerto Mozart composed is by far one written for show. It can also be concluded from this reading that the first concerto was written with more flute technique and skill than the later second. Just more evidence that the second really was just a transcription of the “Oboe Concerto in C”.
While Mozart may have shown hostility towards flute composing, it can also be concluded that Mozart loved writing operas. While the second concerto may have been originally composed for and oboe, that still doesn’t affect Mozart’s opera influences on the piece. Garrison later explains “Knowing his penchant for opera, we can easily recognize that the style of the Concerto in D Major derives from a comic opera”, which is right in the path of some of Mozart’s best compositions. (CITATION) In conclusion, it is safe to say, even though Mozart may have transcribed this piece, adding in his touches of opera may have been what made this piece not only a great contender for flute literature, but also a work known and loved for Mozart’s style.
Lastly, it is important to understand some of the analytical aspects of this piece in order to really compare it to one of an oboe. The overall form of the piece is in double exposition sonata form. The piece itself starts out in D major and works its way to A major when the second part of the solo comes in. The development of the piece varies between D major and A major, and then the rest of the piece finishes in D major. The overall basis of the piece is an orchestral section followed by a more melodic solo entrance.
As a researcher could tell from all these external sources, there can be some similarities and differences between the oboe version and the flute version. The oboe concerto features a few different sections in the piece which are more scaler in nature. However, when Mozart composed this piece, long lines and more operatic style were used as compared to music of Bach, which mostly contained and a strict steady pulse and effortless-sounding tonalities.