Mozart Violin Concerto No:7 ?
Hi everyone!
Recently I bought a wonderful 10 CD box set called 'Masters of the Strings' from the 'documents' label (sold through membran.net) with a recording of violin concerto by W.A. Mozart, Nr.7 D-major. It is played by the brilliant young Yehudi Menuhin in 1932 with the Orchestre de Paris under George Enescu.
The concerto sounds to me certainly written in the style of Mozart but doesn't live up to a real work of Mozart in the end (IMHO). I think it is general knowledge that there are only five violin concertos by Mozart.
Wikipedia lists concertos 6 and 7 but remarks 'spurious' next to it (false that means, just for all who like i did, would have had to look this word up)
So my question is: Does anybody know why these concertos were attributed to Mozart in the 1930's and since when and how long they were attributed to him? And does one know today who actually composed them?
Thanks for your efforts, hans
PS: There is also a wonderful recording of the Beethoven violin concerto by Fritz Kreisler in the collection among many other great masters of the violin.
Replies (14)
Isn't there some question about No. 2 as well?
Didn't know that!
Hi!
Here's what the NMA (Neue Mozart Ausgabe - New Mozart Edition) says about it:
"Dieser Band enthält (...) das traditionelle Corpus von fünf bekannten Violinkonzerten; es fehlen also drei weitere Konzerte, die ebenfalls mit Mozart in Zusammenhang gebracht werden. Von diesen drei Konzerten bringt die NMA lediglich das D-Dur Konzert KV 271a im ersten Band ihrer Werkgruppe 29: Werke zweifelhafter Echtheit. Die beiden anderen Konzerte, das Es-Dur Konzert KV 268 und das sogenannte "Adelaide-Konzert" in D KV Anh.294a haben als Unterschiebung bzw. als Fälschung zu gelten."
I'll sum it up in English:
Only the traditional 5 concerts are definetely by Mozart. The concert in D Major, KV 271a might have been written by Mozart, but that's not for sure.
The other two concerts, Eb Major KV 268 and the "Adelaide-concert" in D KV Anh.294a are fake.
I've never heard that #2 might be fake.
I also heard the name Casadesus (sp?) associated with #6 and 7 - or perhaps just with one of those. I'd also like to hear more about doubts re #2. I've performed it with my own cadenzas. It may not be his most mature work (k211, after all), but it's hard to imagine who else might have composed the 2nd mvt. particularly of that work.
Sorry--it was the "Adelaide" concerto I was thinking of, not #2.
Thanks for that, Tim.
I meant to write that the concerto I mentioned was the KV271a.
Has anybody listened to the recording with Yehudi Menuhin? Do you know any other, has anybody played it and what do you think of it?
Hans
many people have recorded it. I remember Grumiaux recorded it in an earlier transversal of the Mocart Concerti...and Josef Suk recorded it. I believe there is a recording of Oistrakh made in the then Soviet Union, and I think Szeryng might have but I can't be sure off the top of my head
http://groups.imeem.com/2zEjRVFY/music/RqoCjWyD/david_oistrakh_violin_concerto_no7_in_d_major_k271a_i_a/
I'd like to change the subject a bit - but it's still about Mozart. (It doesn't quite seem to warrant an independent thread.)
Is anyone familiar with the Rondo in C, K 373? In my International edition, as well as in a couple of performances that I've heard, the last two notes go from a pretty high G to the next C above that. Somehow that doesn't strike me right. It seems more 'Mozartian' to me to go from that G down to the E just below that. Also that high C would really be awfully high on the shorter fingerboards that most violins had at that time. Any opinions, textual proofs, etc.?
Szeryng not only recorded the concerto # 7 but also played it in concert.
I thought so....but when I was young I remember seeing an LP that said he recorded no 6 K 271a, well No 6 should be K 268 right? So which was it??!! Without buying the LP how was I to know? Ah life before iTunes.....
Menuhin recorded all 7 for EMI Electrola as soloist/conductor of the Bath Festival Orchestra, 1962-64. Have them on vinyl and plan to listen in to them again asap. Liner notes by Ekkehard Kroher in german only, esp. about the authenticity resp. spuriousness of KV268 and 271a.
Maybe EMI have archived these in English?
I found there 2 webpages about the 6th and 7th concerto.
no.6 - http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=039
no.7 - http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=096
Hi Kenny,
Thanks for the link,
good to know there is a Mozartforum!
Especially what Mahling wrote in 2001 is interesting.
I am in no way a musicologist but when listening to concerto Nr.7 there were some things that just didn't sound right, although some phrases sound like Mozart a lot.
Hans
I find it quite interesting when reading the "Other Mozart Requiems" section...
http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=033
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January 28, 2008 at 05:13 AM · Isn't there some question about No. 2 as well? I was under the impression that Robert Casadesu might have written it and others.
Anyone verify this?