Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Horn Concerto No. 2, K. 417

- Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 -- 5 December 1791)
- Orchestra: Philharmonia Orchestra
- Conductor: Herbert von Karajan
- Soloist: Dennis Brain
- Year of recording: 1953

Horn Concerto No. 2 in E flat major, K. 417, written in 1783.

00:00 - I. Allegro maestoso
06:40 - II. Andante
10:14 - III. Rondo

Mozart completed this work in 1783 for the hornist Joseph Leutgeb; the accompaniment is scored for pairs of oboes and horns, plus strings. Leutgeb, 24 years older than Mozart and a horn player in the court orchestra at Salzburg, had known the composer since childhood. He moved to Vienna in 1777, four years before Wolfgang, to become a cheesemonger (with money from Leopold Mozart, who was normally tightfisted). Leutgeb's virtuosity, acclaimed by Parisians as well as the Viennese, was obviously still intact when Mozart wrote a concert Rondo for him (K. 371), then a quintet with strings (K. 407/386c) and the first two of four misnumbered concertos, all in E flat for the valveless hand horn. If, by 1787, aging had begun to impair his technique, Leutgeb remained a superb legato player.

K. 417, despite its published number, was the first concerto and bore this autograph: "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna on 27 May 1783." He would write even more insultingly later on, yet plainly cared very much for this lifelong friend who survived him by a decade.

- The music is a treasurehouse of melody, with an expansive opening movement in common time but no tempo marking (Allegro maestoso was a publisher's, or editor's, educated guess). Following an abbreviated first exposition, the soloist enters with a new theme; later on, the development shifts to a minor key.
- The succeeding Andante, in the dominant key of B flat, has basic song structure with a middle-section melody of rare beauty for the soloist.
- A concluding, hunt-inspired Rondo in 6/8 time set the pattern for the rest of Mozart's Leutgeb concertos: irrepressibly jolly as well as comic -- by intention, of course -- this one with an accelerated coda that leaves the hounds to catch up.

[detectivehome]

00:00 - I. Allegro maestoso
06:40 - II. Andante
10:14 - III. Rondo

[pumpkinpoi]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 2 in E Flat Major, K. 417

Philharmonia Orchestra
Esa-Pekka Salonen, conductor
Katy Woolley, horn

November 22, 2017
Ryman Auditorium, Jackland

[kalliesmith-jcdg]

That music from the episode from little Einsteins!! ❤️ Whale tale and duck duck June!!! Give a ra ra for little einstiens! ❤

[adrianrivera]

00:07 Inicio
00:24
00:55
02:13
03:08

[clayton]

Whale Tale and Duck Duck June both brought me here!

[caterscarrots]

This has the most equal movement distribution in time that I have heard in like any concerto I’ve listened to. Even Piano Concerto no. 21 in C major does not have as equal of a distribution in time. And Beethoven’s concertos are by all means heavily weighted on the first movement when it comes to the length of the movements.

[musicamusica]

Gràcies per compartir. Thanks for sharing

[megandresback]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 2 in E Flat Major, K. 417

Berliner Philharmoniker
Billy Straus, conductor

August 18, 2017
Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas

[trainliker]

I've listened to this and other Dennis Brain recordings for over fifty years now and compared to many others. Notice in this (and especially his Strauss horn concerto performances) how he tends to play with the orchestra instead of on top of it like so many others. Sometimes almost playfully.

[ergkrbn]

Isn't the Rondo similar to the Rondo from Mozart's Divertimento No 17?

[anniefano]

10:14 #LittleEinsteins
OMG Thank you!

[Nyrvena]

only some people have come heer because of hearing this on the first season of little einsteins

[pumpkinpoi]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Horn Concerto No. 2 in E Flat Major, K. 417

Berliner Philharmoniker
Billy Straus, conductor
Theresa McDonnell, horn