The Flute Concerto No. 1 in G major, K. 313, was written in 1778 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Commissioned by the Dutch flautist Ferdinand De Jean in 1777, Mozart was supposed to provide four flute quartets and three flute concertos, yet he only completed two of the three concertos, K. 313 being the first. The Andante for Flute and Orchestra K. 315 may have been written as an alternative slow movement for this concerto, but there is no extant manuscript and it is therefore difficult to ascertain Mozart’s intentions clearly (this also means that current editions are based on the earliest editions rather than an autograph).
The piece is scored for a standard set of orchestral strings, two oboes (which are replaced with two flutes in the Adagio movement), and two horns.
The piece is divided into three movements:
1. Allegro maestoso
2. Adagio ma non troppo
3. Rondo: Tempo di Menuetto
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period.
Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.
He composed more than 600 works, many of which are acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is considered among the greatest classical composers of all time, and his influence is profound on subsequent Western art music. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years”.
Mozart – Flute Concerto in G Major K. 313
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