Today in Music (1791): Mozart's Clarinet Concerto premiered

Clarinet Concerto in A major, K. 622 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composed: 1789-1791 First Performed: October 16, 1791 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > concerto

Parts/Movements: Allegro (in A major and in sonata form) Adagio (in D major and in ternary form) Rondo: Allegro (in A major and in rondo form) Average Duration: 28:34

Rating: 4.712 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Album: Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto was written for clarinetist Anton Stadler. Work started in 1789 and the piece was completed in October 1791, less than two months before his death. AM It was “his final purely instrumental work.” WK The work was initially intended for basset horn, AM “as Anton Stadler was also a virtuoso basset horn player,” WK but was revised for clarinet. AM “Until the mid 20th century musicologists did not know that the only version of the concerto written by Mozart’s hand had not been heard since Stadler’s lifetime…Attempts were made to reconstruct the original version, and new basset clarinets have been built for the specific purpose of performing Mozart's concerto and clarinet quintet. There can no longer be any doubt that the concerto was composed for a clarinet with an extended range.” WK Thus “the version widely known today differs from the work Mozart produced for Stadler, since the original version was written for an instrument with an extended bass compass that allowed Stadler to demonstrate his famed ability to play low notes.” AM The concerto was premiered by Stadler On October 16, 1791, “at his benefit concert in the Prague Theatre” AM to a generally positive reception. WK “The Berlin Musikalisches Wochenblatt noted in January 1792, ‘Herr Stadeler, a clarinettist from Vienna. A man of great talent and recognised as such at court... His playing is brilliant and bears witness to his assurance.’” WK It “is notable for its delicate interplay between soloist and orchestra, and for the lack of overly extroverted display on the part of the soloist (no cadenzas are written out in the solo part).” WK “Cast in the usual three movements, the gentle, nostalgic lyricism of much of the Clarinet Concerto has drawn such epithets as ‘valedictory’ and ‘autumnal,’ an assessment that downplays the extraordinary vigor and verve of this inspired work.” AM

Resources and Related Links: AM AllMusic.com review by Brian Robins WK Wikipedia Other Related DMDB Pages: Last updated 2/23/2026.

Today in Music (1785): Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 premiered

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major (“Elvira Madigan”) K. 467 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (composer)

Composed: 1785 First Performed: March 10, 1785 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > concerto > piano

Parts/Movements: Allegro maestoso Andante Allegro vivace assai Average Duration: 27:19

Rating: 4.784 out of 5.00 (average of 4 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: Mozart’s 21st piano concerto was “composed for the series of Lenten subscription concerts given by Mozart in 1765. This was an extraordinarily busy and successful period of Mozart’s life.” AM His father Leopold said, “Every day there are concerts; and the whole time is given up to teaching, music, composing and so forth...It is impossible for me to describe the rush and the bustle.” AM The first of the concerts referenced by Leopold was on February 11, when Piano Concerto No. 20 premiered. No. 21, however, wasn’t introduced until March 10 at a benefit concert at the National Court Theater. “A handbill for the concert announced that it would include ‘a new, just finished Forte piano Concerto,’ in addition to Mozart playing improvisations (for which he was particularly famed) employing ‘an especially large Forte piano pedal.’” AM “The first movement, an expansive Allegro of Olympian grandeur and design is followed by an Andante of sublime beauty made famous in more recent times by its use in” AM “the 1967 film Elvira Madigan and is one of Mozart’s most famous pieces of music.” CC “This movement, with its few notes and bare outline, is incidentally a classic example of the manner in which Mozart frequently left himself room to improvise within the context of his own concertos, a technique lately reintroduced by performers such as Malcolm Bilson and Robert Levin.” AM “The final movement is an Allegro vivace assai, which “brings the work to an exciting conclusion on a grand symphonic scale.” CC “Its evocation of the world of opera buffo typical of many of Mozart’s finales, both in concerto and symphony. Like the D Minor Concerto, K. 467 is scored for a large orchestra: flute, pairs of oboes, bassoons, horns and trumpets, timpani and strings.” AM

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Brian Robins CC Classical CD Guide Related DMDB Links: Last updated 2/23/2026.

Today in Music (1785): Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 20 first performed

Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (composer)

Composed: 1785 First Performed: February 11, 1785 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > concerto > piano

Parts/Movements: Allegro Romance Rondo (Allegro assai) Average Duration: 31:00

Rating: 4.675 out of 5.00 (average of 6 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: “Mozart completed this work on February 10, 1785, and played the first performance the next evening in Vienna.” AM His father Leopold called it “a new, superb piano concerto by Wolfgang, which the copyist was still writing when we arrived.” AM He didn’t even have time to play the rondo because he was still revising copies of the orchestral parts. AM Leopold said, however, that “The concert was incomparable, the orchestra excellent.” AM The work has since been hailed as a “trailblazing” work “that survived the neglect of so much of Mozart’s music during the nineteenth century.” AM “Beethoven, both smitten and influenced, played it publicly.” AM Mozart begins the piece by having the orchestra play a network of themes, ideas that define where the piece will go. The first piano entrance, which is one of the most famous in the concerto literature, glances at those themes while moving in a completely different and even more compelling direction.” TM “More than two centuries later it remains a miracle that the soloist never plays exactly what the orchestra sets forth in the exposition, despite a rock-solid sonata structure throughout.” AM “The second movement is a Romanza (B flat major, common time). Not to underrate Mozart’s incomparable genius in music before this, nothing had equaled the unity of expression achieved in 1785 and after.” AM “Mozart returns to D minor in the third movement (Allegro assai; alla breve). Until the coda, we hear one of Mozart’s rare rondos in a minor key. More precisely, it is an extended sonata-rondo (ABACDA, plus coda), since C is a development, with the reprise in section D.” AM

Reviews: AM AllMusic.com review by Roger Dettmer TM Tom Moon (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman Publishing Company, Inc.: New York, NY. Page 347. Related DMDB Links: Last updated 2/23/2026.