Piano Concerto in E flat major K.271

It was long thought that the Piano Concerto in B flat that Mozart wrote in Salzburg in 1777 was intended for a “Mlle Jeunehomme” said to be visiting the city at the time. It is still known as the “Jeunehomme” Concerto in consequence. However, although “Mlle Jeunehomme” is described in an influential early-20th-century Mozart biography as “one of the most celebrated virtuosos of the day,” there is no other record of a musician of that name. She did not, in fact, exist. There are references in letters from Mozart and his father to a “Jenomy” or “Jenomè” or “Genomai” but, while the spelling is at variance, it is an obviously three-syllable name in every case, whereas “Jeunehomme” is not. Anyway, it has recently come to light that there was a pianist by the name of Jenamy who, as the daughter of the ballet master and Mozart-family friend Jean-Georges Noverre, was well known to the composer.

When Noverre’s talented daughter Louise-Victoire (by this time married to Joseph Jenamy) visited Salzburg in 1777 Mozart clearly set out to impress her. The result was an uncommonly inspired concerto distinguished, moreover, by a feature he was never to repeat and which was not to be emulated by any major composer until Beethoven wrote his Piano Concerto in B flat major 30 years later. Far from keeping the soloist waiting until after an orchestral exposition, which was the usual procedure, Mozart saw to it that she made her first entry as early as the second bar.

The effectiveness of the opening manoeuvre derives in part from the modesty with which it is accomplished. Far from anticipating “Emperor” Concerto heroics, oboes, horns and strings twice offer a little fanfare and twice the pianist answers. From that point on the composer reverts to the normal procedure - or nearly normal, since the piano re-enters on a long trill before the orchestra has finished the closing theme of the exposition and then, briefly, sets off in a melodic direction of its own. What would normally be the first piano entry begins with the orchestral fanfare and the piano answer, which material also dominates a development section remarkable for its dramatic piano writing and its harmonic enterprise. Even more remarkably, the harmonic intrigue continues in the recapitulation. Much though he admired his soloist, incidentally, he did not expect her to improvise her own cadenzas: two sets in Mozart’s own hand survive - comparatively short ones for Madame Jenamy, longer ones for his own use in Vienna a few years later.

The Andantino in C minor has much in common, both melodically and emotionally, with the Andante in the same key in the Sinfonia Concertante for violin and viola written two year later in 1779. The two movements are, in fact, unusual among Mozart’s concertos for their deeply melancholy character. One of the most inspired moments in the present Andantino comes shortly after the first entry of the piano, which offers an elaborate counterpoint to the unhappy main theme on muted violins and then quite innocently slips into the serenity of E flat major. It is a poignant contrast highlighted both here and in the recapitulation by the return to the minor for the soloist’s eloquently expressive second subject.

The last movement is for the most part a bustling rondo based on the theme introduced by the piano in the opening bars. It too has an unconventional feature in that, in the middle of an E-flat-major Presto in duple time, it includes an unhurried minuet in A flat. This is not so much an innovation, however, as a reversion to the type of mixed-tempo finale Mozart had written in his Salzburg Violin Concertos two years earlier. However that may be, he not only extracts the maximum decorative value from his elegant insert but also uses it most effectively to offset the Presto material on either side of it.