The embellishment in Mozart's keyboard music with specific application to seven of his late piano concertos

Goodall, Shane Leslie

The embellishment in Mozart's keyboard music with specific application to seven of his late piano concertos

Thesis / Dissertation

1996

Abstract

Background to the study It was the practice in Mozart's day for performers to make improvisatory additions to the written text. They would add ornaments, fill in skeletal passages and decorate works according to their ability and taste. Mozart himself was well-known for his gift of improvising, which he put to good use when performing his concertos. Problem to be studied All Mozart's works published in his lifetime show a great attention to detail. He wrote out ornaments, cadenzas, and lead-ins, and embellished recurring themes. This can be seen in his keyboard sonatas and concertos. However, there are some instances where he was rushed for time when composing, and he used abbreviations, or left recurring themes unembellished. In his piano concertos written for his own performance for example, some sections have been abbreviated and need filling out. Other places require embellishment. These aspects are characteristic of the late piano concertos, and are used in this study, namely: K.466 in D minor, K.482 in Eb major, K.488 in A major, K.491 in C minor, K.503 in C major, K.537 in D major, and K.595 in B b major. The author is of the opinion that modem-day pianists may lack the improvisational skills practised in the latter part of the eighteenth century, and it is therefore problematic for them to lV realise these works fully. The embellishment of these concertos involve adding ornaments such as appoggiaturas, auxiliary notes, turns, cambiatas, echappees, passing notes and trills; filling out abbreviated areas; and improvising lead-ins where fermatas occur over the dominant harmony. Purpose of the study It is the author's aim to provide pianists performing these concertos with sufficient information to embellish these works by: supplying an index of the ornamentation used by Mozart in his keyboard works; applying this information to the piano concertos, in conjunction with suggestions and recommendations obtained form literature on the topic. Conclusions reached Once the study of Mozart's embellishment and relevant literature has been made, care must be taken when applying this information. It is equally bad to add too much embellishment as it is to add none at all. C.P .E. Bach sums up this in the following statement: Good embellishments must be distinguished from bad, the good must be correctly performed, and introduced moderately and fittingly.

Keywords

Embellishment (Music)

Reference:

Collections

Masters

Full item page