Mozart-Perspektiven

Mozart's String Quintet in D major, KV 593, in the reception of a French filmmaker (Éric Rohmer) and a Russian private scholar of the 19th century (Alexander Oulibicheff); Mozart's piano concertos as model questioning of intertextuality; Friedrich Gulda's idiosyncratic Mozart interpretations—Mozart's instrumental music proves to be an incessantly fascinating challenge for everyone interested in his compositions. Modern Mozart research must bring together all the areas it encapsulates: its philological source material as well as modern reception and interpretation research, which also includes a look at the formal aspects of Mozart's music.

Mozart und seine Subskription der drei Klavierkonzerte KV 413-415 von 1783

The research on the history of pricing strategies and decisions by companies and individuals has not received much attention up to now. This is surprising, as pricing is the most important profit driver, and thus an inquiry into the historic origins of price-related decisions by the early modern market operators can yield important insights for both historians and current practitioners on successful marketing strategies. The following article contributes to the research on business history by proposing, first of all, a framework for the conceptual definition between a revenue and a price model. Furthermore, it is shown that subscription-based revenue was generated as early as 1617. The revenue model of the subscription – an early antecedent of today’s crowdfunding scheme – will then be covered in detail by investigating the case of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s piano concertos KV 413-415. The influential composer decided to appeal to a broader target group by using a subscription-based pricing scheme for these three piano concertos in 1783. The subscription however was unsuccessful, and the major reason for this failure as well as Mozart’s probable economic reasoning are elaborated. Finally, the rising modern market forc es, that steered the Viennese music market of the late 18th century towards modern*structures, made sure that market operators at that time tried to adapt to these forces by offering modern and innovative revenue and price models, such as highly differentiated, content-based and time-definite subscriptions.

Piano Concertos for the Left Hand by Ravel and Prokofiev: Two Answers to One Order

Пианист Пауль Витгенштейн, желая расширить и обновить свой концертный репертуар, внес в XX веке существенный вклад в фортепианную литературу для левой руки. В 1929–1930 годах он заказывает фортепианный концерт сначала Морису Равелю, а затем Сергею Прокофьеву. Это оказалось возможным благодаря наследству, полученному пианистом после смерти отца — сталелитейного магната Карла Витгенштейна. Если Равелю удалось, хоть и не полностью, удовлетворить потребности заказчика, то Прокофьеву было вовсе отказано в исполнении его музыки. Одной из главных причин неудачи Прокофьева можно считать творческий кризис конца зарубежного периода, когда композитор находился в поисках нового музыкального языка — «новой простоты». В статье прослеживается и сравнивается судьба этих произведений; устанавливаются причины сравнительной невостребованности концерта Прокофьева исполнителями; анализируется композиция, фортепианная фактура и техника, оркестровка. Освещены биографические факты из жизни Пауля Витгенштейна, а также непростые отношения между заказчиком и композиторами. In the twentieth century, the one-armed pianist Paul Wittgenstein made a significant contribution to piano literature for the left hand, which was due to his wish to broaden and update his concert repertoire. In 1929–1930 he ordered a left-handed piano concerto first to Maurice Ravel and then to Sergei Prokofiev. It was possible through the inheritance that Wittgenstein received after the death of his father, the steel magnate Karl Wittgenstein. While Ravel was able to meet the client’s needs, though not completely, Prokofiev was completely denied the performance of his music. One of the main reasons for Prokofiev’s failure might be the creative crisis of the end of the foreign period, when the composer was in search of a new musical language — “the new simplicity”. The article traces and compares the destiny of these piano concertos, specifying the reasons for the relative lack of demand for Prokofiev’s left-handed concerto on behalf of performers. The article also analyzes music, piano texture and technique, form, orchestration of the lefthanded concertos. Special attention is paid to biographical facts from Paul Wittgenstein’s life, as well as uneasy relationship between the client and the composers.

“Ecco la marcia, andiamo...” Mozart and the March

Surprisingly little work has been dedicated to Mozart and the march genre. The literature has explored only the 17 marches which feature as introductory movements in his cassations and serenades (Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, Günter Hauswald, Wolfgang Plath). However, marches have important functions in Mozart’s operas – in his seria works as celebratory and greeting intermezzos, and at expressly key instances in his Da Ponte operas (“Non più andrai,” “Ecco la marcia, andiamo,” “È aperto a tutti quanti, viva la libertà!”, and “Bella vita militar”). The same applies to Idomeneo and The Magic Flute, where the priestly rituals are accompanied by marches, albeit of a slow variety, as is Tamino and Pamina’s trial by fire and water. Studying the marches reveals a formulaic recurring rhythmic model (a succession of eighth notes in the following pattern: 4:3:1:2:2) that acts as a thematic introduction to many works which do not conspicuously belong to the march genre – notably his piano concertos and symphonies. This model appears already in his juvenile pieces, reoccurring throughout his œuvre as a means of expressing the beginning of a purposeful action.

The Five Piano Concertos

Across Prokofiev’s oeuvre, his piano works—and especially his piano concertos—hold a special place. A consummate pianist, he realized early on that, among various performers, he himself was the most persuasive advocate for his music. His appearances as a pianist were opportunities to present his compositions to various international audiences. Each of the piano concertos was a harbinger of important stylistic shifts in the composer’s output in general, and his piano music in particular. This chapter examines each of these works separately, looking into the circumstances of their creation, as well as the changes in Prokofiev’s style demonstrated by each of them. It explores the peculiarities of his writing for piano and the challenges it presents to the performer. By also looking into the changes in Prokofiev’s approach to the instrument as revealed in each concerto, it offers some practical solutions that may be helpful to pianists.