Mozart: Piano Concerto No.9 in E-flat major, K.271

Introduction

The Piano Concerto No. 9 "Jenamy" ("Jeunehomme") in E-flat major, K. 271, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was written in Salzburg in 1777, when Mozart was 21 years old.

Composition

Mozart completed the concerto in January 1777, nine months after his Piano Concerto No. 8 in C major and with few significant compositions in the intervening period.

Structure

The work is scored for solo piano, 2 oboes, 2 horns, and strings.

It consists of three movements:

1. Allegro, in E-flat major and common (C) time, ~10:30
2. Andantino, in C minor and 3/4 time, ~12:00
3. Rondo (Presto), in E-flat major and cut time, ~10:00

First movement

The opening measures of the first movement. The lower stave is the orchestral part at the pitch played by the violins, oboes and horns; the violas, cellos and basses play an octave lower. The upper stave is the right hand of the piano part.

The first movement opens, unusually for the time, with interventions by the soloist, anticipating Beethoven's Fourth and Fifth Concertos. As Girdlestone (1964) notes, its departures from convention do not end with this early solo entrance, but continue in the style of dialogue between piano and orchestra in the rest of the movement. Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this movement.

Second movement

The second movement is written in the relative minor key. In only five of Mozart's piano concertos is the second movement in a minor key (K. 41, K. 271, K. 456, K. 482, and K. 488. K. 41 is an arrangement). Mozart wrote two cadenzas for this movement.

Third movement

The third movement which opens with the solo piano is in a rondo form on a large scale. It is interrupted, surprisingly, by a slow minuet section (a procedure Mozart would repeat with his 22nd concerto, 1785, also in the key of E-flat). The work ends in the original tempo.

Reception

The work is highly regarded by critics. Charles Rosen has called it "perhaps the first unequivocal masterpiece [of the] classical style."

Name

The work has long been known as the Jeunehomme Concerto. Théodore de Wyzéwa and Georges de Saint-Foix claimed that Mozart wrote the piece for a French pianist 'Jeunehomme' visiting Salzburg. This name is however incorrect; in 2004 Michael Lorenz demonstrated that the name was actually Victoire Jenamy (1749–1812), a daughter of Jean-Georges Noverre, a dancer who was one of Mozart's friends. Mozart had made Victoire Jenamy's acquaintance during his stay in Vienna in 1773.