Mozart’s Piano Concertos, especially those composed during the years 1784-’91, are still held in high esteem, two centuries later, by both amateur music-lovers and professional musicians. Strangely enough, only very few comprehensive studies exist on this remarkable section of Mozart’s output.
The present study, first published in German in a slightly abridged form, deals with Mozart’s evolution as a composer of piano concertos; sheds light on the connections between the concertos and other fields of creative activity, as well as on those with other composers of his time. Finally, attention is paid to problems of performance practice.
The author, born in 1914, emeritus professor of Utrecht University and former chairman of the Zentralinstitut für Mozart-Forschung, Salzburg, has been involved with the subject of Mozart’s concertos for about 60 years.