Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)

1775 violin concerto by W. A. Mozart From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. In a letter to his father, Mozart called it the "Strasbourg Concerto".[1] Researchers believe this epithet comes from the motive in the third movement's Allegretto in the central section, a local dance that already had appeared as a musette-imitating tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.[2][3]

CatalogueK. 216
Composed1775 (1775)
MovementsThree (Allegro, Adagio, Rondeau)
Quick facts Key, Catalogue ...
Violin Concerto in G major
No. 3 "Straßburg-Concert"
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart in 1777
KeyG major
CatalogueK. 216
Composed1775 (1775)
MovementsThree (Allegro, Adagio, Rondeau)
Scoring
  • Violin
  • orchestra
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Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin, two flutes (second movement only), two oboes (tacet in the second movement), two horns in G and D, and strings.

Movements

The piece is in three movements:

I. Allegro



elative c''' { set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin"
  key g major
  <g b, d,>4f g4.p fis16(g) fis(g) fis(g) | <d d,>4f d4.p cis16(d) cis(d) cis(d) | <b d, g,>4f b4.p c!8	rill d-![ e-!] | g,(fis) fis4-! r2
}

The Allegro is in sonata form, opening with a G major theme played by the orchestra. The first theme takes up the orchestral ritornello similar to Aminta's aria "Aer tranquillo e dì sereni" from Mozart's opera Il re pastore. The main theme is a bright and happy discussion between the solo violin and the accompaniment, followed by a modulation to the dominant D major, then to its parallel key D minor. It experiments in other keys, but does not settle and eventually, heads back to the tonic, G major, in the recapitulation.

II. Adagio



elative c' { set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin"
key d major
	empo 4 = 35
partial 8 a'8-!f fis8 (a d fis) e16 (d) d4 appoggiatura e32 d16 cis32 b32 b16 (a) a4 	uplet 3/2 {a16 (b g)} g4 (fis8) d'p appoggiatura cis16 b8-! b8-! appoggiatura b16 a8-! a-! gis4 (g) fis}

The second movement is in ternary form in the dominant key of D major. The orchestra begins with the main theme, which the violin imitates one octave higher. The winds then play a dance-like motif in A major, which the violin concludes. The violin restates the main theme in A major, although the melody features A sharp instead of A natural, creating a brief modulation to B minor. It soon modulates back to A major, then to the home key of D major through the main theme. After the cadenza, the violin plays the main theme again, thus concluding the movement in D.

This is the only movement in any of the five violin concertos by Mozart where a pair of flutes are used instead of oboes.

III. Rondeau



elative c' { set Staff.midiInstrument = #"violin"
key g major
	ime 3/8
	empo 4 = 130
appoggiatura d16 d'4f c16 (a) g8-. g-. g-. appoggiatura e16 e'4 c16 (a) fis8-. fis-. fis-. g (d) b'-! a (d,) c'-! b (d,) d'-! b4 (a8) }

The finale is a rondo in G major and in 3
8
time. Mozart inserts into the rondo a short G minor Andante section followed by a longer G major Allegretto section, both in cut time.[4]

Recordings

References

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