Mozart wrote one of his most famous and popular piano concertos for the
daughter ... powerful evidence, more than 200 years after his death, that Mozart's
Piano.
Mozart wrote one of his most famous and popular piano concertos for the daughter of a tax collector Mozart wrote one of his most famous and popular piano concertos for the daughter of a tax collector, according to a masterful piece of detective work, shedding extraordinary and controversial light on how his music would have been performed in his day. Bringing together for the first time manuscripts evacuated for safe keeping during World War II, the discovery that Mozart began sketching one concerto on the score sheet of another, paper dating and handwriting identification, all combined to provide powerful evidence, more than 200 years after his death, that Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 was written for his pupil Barbara Ployer, who was an acclaimed pianist and the daughter of a wealthy lumber merchant and tax collector living in Vienna. The original score, held at the National Library in Paris, shows it’s the only one of his piano concertos to have the cadenza – the part where the soloist performs alone in a display of impetuosity and flamboyance – written into it, so it was very likely Mozart wrote it to be played by someone other than himself, as he always improvised when he was performing a piece himself. The research was carried out by the pianist and musicologist Robert Levin. “You can tell the cadenza was written at the drafting stage of the concerto because of the ink colour. Mozart bought the ink at the chemist in small amounts and as the quills get stubbier, they are thrown away, so you can see the order in which he does things. He wrote in the first violin part and bass together with the second violin, then he switches to the piano part and writes out the cadenza.” Levin was looking at some cadenzas written by Mozart for an earlier concerto Piano Concerto No.12 in A Major, when he noticed that Mozart had written new clarinet parts for Piano Concerto No.23 on the same piece of paper. He must have had this set of cadenzas on his writing desk whilst he was working on Piano Concerto No.23, according to paper dating, in 1786. It also struck him that the cadenza for Piano Concerto No.23 was remarkably similar to the cadenzas for No.12. Thus Levin deduced that Mozart originally intended someone other than himself to play a revival
of the earlier concerto, and wrote new cadenzas for that purpose, but decided to complete Piano Concerto No.23 for them instead. Levin guessed that the concerto would have been written for a pupil, but which one? The complex research, which Levin likens to a criminological detective story, finally led to evidence held at a library in Berlin where the manuscript of the piano part, which had become separated from the original score in Paris, contained embellishments – musical flourishes or decoration around the solo part, written in Barbara Ployers handwriting. During World War II Mozart’s manuscripts were evacuated for safe keeping. Whilst the original score for Piano Concerto No.23 was in Paris, the manuscript to Piano Concerto No.12 ended up in Krakow, and its cadenzas and the performance part with the with the embellishment for Piano Concerto No.23 by Ployer were stored in Berlin. Levin’s research collated these far flung sources for the first time, without which it would not have been possible to discover the concert was written for Ployer. As remarkable as the discovery that he wrote the piece for her is what this tells us about how Mozart’s music would have been performed in his day – and it’s not at all to modern tastes. Levin says: “Barbara Ployer goes mad with the spray can. Her solo part is brim full of notes. It was written by her, but as Mozart’s pupil she would have known how much he would have wanted her to write in, and no one today would play their solo with so many frills and flourishes.” Levin will be performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto No.23 with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment on 4th October at The Works – a new series known as the antidote to classical concerts which will be a relaxed and informal night out – much more how the music would have been performed in Mozart’s day. He will talk about how orchestras used to jam together and it will be the first time a modern audience has heard Ployer’s elaborate solo performed in a concert hall – it could be a shock to the ears of many listeners. William Norris, Creative Director of The Works comments: “The Works aims to demystify classical music and give people the opportunity to enjoy it without the usual formality that surrounds a ‘regular’ classical music concert. We just want people to enjoy themselves with some of the best music ever written. We’re delighted that Robert will be performing Barbara Ployer’s solo, which probably hasn’t been heard for over 200 years, and it will be exciting to see how the audience react.” For further information please contact Katy Bell on 07834 603444
[email protected]
