Mozarts Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K.

488: An analysis of the first movement

by James Greeson Wolfgang Mozarts (1756-1791) concertos for piano are considered to be some of his finest compositions. Concerto No. 23 in A Major, was composed in 1786, and is a graceful piece in three movements. It uses a small orchestra with 2 flutes, 2 clarinets in A, 2 bassoons, and 2 horns in A, along with the usual string orchestra. The first movement embodies the form called a sonata form with double exposition. This form is common in concerti and one feature of this form is that the first exposition does not end with a double bar and repeat sign indicating a literal repeat of the exposition. Instead the first exposition is for the orchestra without the soloist, and does not modulate to and conclude in the dominant, but stays in the tonic key throughout. When the soloist enters a second exposition begins which does modulate to the dominant key (or relative major if the work is in a minor key), and the second exposition does indeed cadence in the dominant. The only other variance from a standard (non-concerto) sonata form is the traditional cadenza which occurs near the end of the recapitulation of the movement. The movement begins with a calm, graceful theme in the strings which dwells on the subdominant chord, even ending with a plagal cadence. K. 488: First Theme

The second theme (mm. 31-46) is presented following a transitional section and is also quite lyrical. In the first exposition it too is in the key of A, but in the second exposition it is heard in the dominant key of E Major (mm. 99114). This phrase ends with a half cadence, and the following phrase ends with a PAC, creating a double parallel period. K. 488: Second Theme (m. 31)

The closing theme (mm. 47-62) is more intense in character and features interplay between the winds and strings as well as frequent use of the borrowed subdominant chord. It includes a number of different melodic ideas and concludes with a strong beat PAC in A Major in measure 62.

K. 488: Closing Theme (m. 47)

The second exposition begins in measure 67 with the first theme stated by the solo pianist. The major difference in this exposition is the modulation to the dominant key of E Major, which takes place in the Transition section in measures 82-98. This second exposition ends in a surprising way in measure 142 with the half cadence falling on the fourth beat of the measure and the music abruptly ceasing, creating a dramatic pause which is followed by an entirely new theme which begins the development section (mm. 143-198). This new theme is in E Major and provides virtually all of the melodic material heard throughout the development section. It is a beautiful chorale-like statement with a great deal of imitation in the lower voices. K. 488: New Theme in the Development (m. 143)

It is followed in measure 149 by a beautifully ornamented version of this theme in the solo piano. The original notes of the theme are marked with an x in the following example to facilitate comparison with the preceding example. This embellished statement adds one measure to the original version. K. 488: Piano variation of the new theme (m. 149)

Following this embellished theme in E Major, the music begins to fragment this new theme and moves into key areas associated with the key of A minor as opposed to A Major. The keys touched on include E minor (m. 158), C Major (m. 162), F Major (m. 166), and D minor (m. 170). An especially nice passage is found in mm. 170-178. It features the clarinet and flute in a canon based on the new theme, while the soloist maintains a running sixteenth note figure. Harmoncally it begins in the key of D minor and traces the circle of fifths to a cadence on an E major chord in measure 178. Since E Major is the dominant chord of A Major this initiates a prolongation of the dominant of A Major in measures 178-189. A sort of mini-cadenza occurs in mm. 189-198 which leads to the Recapitulation beginning in measure 198. The Recapitulation restates all of the themes heard in the exposition, now all in the key of A Major, with the solist and orchestra interacting, unlike the first exposition.

A particularly long Coda section begins in measure 261 with the reintroduction of the development sections New theme, presented now by the soloist alone, and in the key of A Major for the first time. Like the beginning of the development section, including the dramatic pause, it is followed by the placid restatement of the New theme by the orchestra (m. 290). This breaks off though and leads through a series of forte chords to the traditional tonic 6/4 chord paving the way for the cadenza. The cadenza is fundamentally a greatly expanded prolongation of the V chord. Following the cadenza the orchestra enters in a forte tutti statement with material drawn from the closing theme first presented in measure 49. A decisive PAC in A Major occurs in m. 309 followed by a prolongation of the tonic chord to the movements end.

Formal Diagram of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major K.488 - First Movement
Orchestral Exposition
18 Theme 1 (Dbl. Parallel Period) Transition 18 13 10 8 8 6 5 4 4 4 (6+2) (4+2) Plagal HC Plagal PAC IAC A Ma A Ma A Ma A Ma D Ma 31 Theme 2 (Par. Period) 16 8 8
(2+2+4) (CD Trk 1 - 0:55)

(2+2+4)

47 Closing Theme 16 6 11
(2+4)

63 Codetta 4 PAC PAC A Ma A Ma

(3+4+4)

HC A Ma

HC A Ma

PAC A Ma

Dcptv A Ma

Soloist Exposition (2:07)

82 99 Theme 2 (Par. Period) 115 Closing Theme 137 Transition 67 Theme 1 (Dbl. Parallel Period) 16 Codetta 17 16 23 8 8 8 8 6 18 7 6 5 5 (2+2+4) (2+2+4) (3+4) 4 4 4 4 (2+4) (3+4+11) Tutti Tutti Soloist Soloist Soloist w/orch. HC Plagal HC IAC PAC IAC IAC HC PAC Dcptv PAC HC (Int.) E Ma A Ma A Ma A Ma A Ma D Ma E Ma E Ma E Ma E Ma E Ma E Ma

(3:04)

(3:36)

Development (4:28)
156 143 170 (5:18) 189 178 (5:34) based on New Theme New Theme Flt & Clt Canon 'mini-cadenza' 15 14 9 12 10 7 8 5 5 5 (3+2+5) (3+2) (3+2) 3 3 Circle of 5ths seq 5 5 4 Strings Soloist PAC PAC IAC IAC IAC PAC HC HC HC HC IAC E Ma E Ma e mi C Ma F Ma d mi a mi a mi a mi a mi A Ma Dominant Prolongation (continued on next page)

pg. 2 - Mozart Piano Cto. No. 23

Recapitulation (6:10)
198 Theme 1 16 8 8 4 4 4 4 Tutti Soloist 213 Transition 16 11 5 Tutti Soloist

(7:07)

(7+4)

229 Theme 2 16 8
(2+2+4)

Soloist HC A Ma

245 Closing Theme 16 8 6 11 (2+2+4) (2+4) (3+5+3) winds PAC A Ma Dcptv A Ma HC (Int.) A Ma

Plagal HC IAC PAC IAC A Ma A Ma A Ma A Ma D Ma

HC A Ma

Coda (8:10)
261 based on new theme from Dev. 24 7 9 9 Soloist IAC Dec. A Ma A Ma 284 290 298 Cadenza (9:20) (31) 10 HC A Ma 299 Closing Tutti 15 12
(3+3+2)

313

Codetta New Th. var. 6 8 (3+3+2) Tutti PAC HC (Int.) A Ma A Ma

9 . Soloist HC I 6/4 A Ma

Orchestra PAC PAC PAC PAC A Ma A Ma A Ma A Ma

CD timings correspond to Nonesuch 9 79042-2 MOZART: Piano Concertos Nos. 17 &23, Richard Goode/Orpheus