W. A. Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto K299

A concerto for flute and harp? I didn’t know there were any concertos for flute and harp. It must be Baroque, right? But wait! There’s a K. 299 on the end of the title – this concerto was written by none other than our beloved genius, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It’s true that many flute concertos were written in the Baroque era. Mozart, in fact, prolific as he was, wrote only three flute concertos, and only one with the harp. This particular concerto, K. 299, he wrote while in Paris in April of 1788. 1778 was a particularly difficult year in Mozart's life. His father, Leopold Mozart, had ordered him to leave Mannheim and go to Paris early in the year, where he was unhappy, a feeling unabated by music as he expressed in his letters that he despised French music. Soon afterward, Mozart's mother fell gravely ill, and died at the beginning of July. Mozart's father, who had been living in Salzburg at the time of the illness and death, wrote letters accusing his son of indolence, lying, and neglect of his mother (Mozart, Grove Music Online).
Despite the turbulence of this period of Mozart's life, his flute and harp concerto is light and energetic. Written in C major with parts for two oboes, two horns, and strings, the concerto’s themes utilize runs, arpeggios, and sometimes ascending and descending patterns of thirds. It lasts about twenty-seven minutes. As was typical of other Classical era concertos, this work has three movements that alternate between fast and slow tempos. It exemplifies a standard Mozart concerto form, adapted from the concerto form of his mentor, J. C. Bach. A closing theme used in these forms mimics the ritornello and betrays the relationship between Classical concerto forms and Baroque concerto forms.
“Allegro” opens with a double exposition, in which the first, second, and closing themes are played by the orchestra and then expanded by the soloists. During the exposition, the flute takes most of the melody of the theme while the harp provides a harmonic structure with arpeggiated chords and scale patterns, only occasionally taking the melodic lead. Both instruments elaborate on the theme presented by the orchestra, working together to ornament and develop the melody, as was common for double-exposition works. When the soloists expand the second theme, it is developed in the dominant key, G major. The orchestra accompanies the soloists through most of the exposition, but occasionally drops out to expose the solo or duet lines. When the development begins, the music shifts into an unstable key area, modulating through minor modes. Following the development section, the first and second themes return in the tonic key as the recapitulation. The flute and harp share a cadenza before the final repetition of the closing theme, though not as florid a cadenza as would later be seen in the Romantic era concertos. At the close of the movement, Mozart seems to play a musical joke by bringing back the first few measures of the first theme, as if to suggest that the entire movement could be repeated. The second movement, “Andante,” is a slower and shorter movement in the subdominant key, F major. The instrumentation of this movement is much lighter; the soloists are accompanied by strings only. “Andante” alternates between two simple themes, and also contains a cadenza. The final movement is the quickest, a dance-like “Rondo” in C major. The orchestra introduces four short themes, much as an opera overture introduces the themes for individual characters before the start of the opera, then the flute and harp expound on the themes. I didn’t recognize any of the melodies Mozart uses, but we’ve talked in class about how Mozart sometimes used popular melodies in the “Rondo” movement of a concerto to play to his audience. Even without recognizing melodies he used, some of them stuck in my head, such as the hunting-horn-esque figures first introduced by the French horns.
Mozart commonly used the standard form described above in his concertos in order to create an expectation in his audience. If the audience liked what they heard in one Mozart concerto, they could expect to consistently hear that balanced structure in his other works, possibly leading to more commissions. The balance and proportion maintained in Mozart’s form is also present in his melodies. In fact, I think part of the value of this piece is its exhibition of Classical Era standards of beauty by maintaining simplicity and balance, tasteful decoration.
The use of flute as a solo instrument was quite common in the Baroque period, but considerably fewer flute concertos were written in the Classical period. This trend is exemplified in Mozart’s own work. Although Mozart wrote numerous piano concertos and a considerable number of violin concertos, this flute and harp concerto is one of only three written for flute, even though improvements were being made to the flute during this period to increase the instrument’s range. More importantly, the emerging flute was capable of playing more in tune than its predecessors (The Classical Flute, Flutehistory.com). However, even the improved flute was not capable of competing with the range and virtuosity of violinists and pianists.
Concertos for harp were even rarer than flute concertos, and this is Mozart’s only concerto to feature harp as a soloist. I love the way Mozart uses the harp with the flute. Sometimes it is a soloist, holding the melody line and accompanied by the orchestra or flute. Other times it seems to be the sole accompaniment for the flute. The harp is not as loud as many other orchestral instruments, and Mozart accounts for this by using either a simpler texture or no orchestral accompaniment in the sections in which the harp takes the melody, as in the development section of “Allegro.”
Although the harp plays an important role in this concerto, the melodic virtuosity of the piece is primarily achieved in the flute part. I think the disparity in range and virtuosity between flute and more common concerto instruments is the reason why this concerto has not made the standard canon. Not only were violins and pianos capable of polyphony, but also their greater ranges and flexibility attracted composers, and concertos for these instruments developed considerably over time. Composers often wrote their best and most representative works for violin and piano, and the canon is biased toward portraying “only the best” of a composer or time period’s work. The difficulty of finding a capable harpist further limits performance opportunities for this concerto, as harp is studied less commonly than many other orchestral instruments.