Sinfonia concertante for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K. 364

Program notes

About the Work

Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante for violin, viola and orchestra is one of the most loved works of his early maturity and one of the great double concertos. He wrote it in Salzburg in 1779, soon after returning from a long and painful journey to Mannheim and Paris. That trip had failed to win him a job, and during it his mother had died in Paris. Yet it had also shown him the most advanced orchestral music in Europe, and he came home full of new ideas.

The sinfonia concertante was one of those ideas. It was a fashionable genre in both Mannheim and Paris: a concerto for several soloists, halfway between a symphony and a concerto, usually light and brilliant. Mozart took the form and deepened it. Nobody knows who the first soloists were or when it was first played, but the result is his finest work for strings and orchestra from those years.

Mozart played both instruments himself and was said to prefer the viola in chamber music. He treats the two soloists as equals, passing phrases between them, letting them imitate each other and then join in sweet parallel harmony. He also wrote a clever trick into the viola part. In the original, the viola is written in D major and tuned up a semitone, so that it sounds in E flat. The raised tension gives the instrument a brighter, more penetrating tone that can stand up to the violin; many modern violists play it at normal tuning.

The orchestra also has a larger role than usual. Mozart divides the violas into two parts, which gives the orchestral sound a warm, rich middle, and uses oboes and horns for colour. The mood of the three movements ranges from ceremonial grandeur to profound sorrow and finally to high spirits.

Tonight’s soloists are two principals of the LSO: its leader, Benjamin Marquise Gilmore, and its principal viola, Eivind Ringstad. It is a reminder that Mozart wrote the piece in the spirit of chamber music, for players who listen to each other closely.

What to Listen For

First movement (Allegro maestoso). The orchestra opens with a grand, confident introduction. Listen for the famous “Mannheim crescendo”, a long, gradual build-up over repeated notes, a trick Mozart learned on his travels. Then the two soloists enter together, not one after the other. They begin with a long, high note that seems to float out of the orchestral texture. From then on, listen for the conversation: one instrument states a phrase, the other answers it, and then they combine. The cadenza, which Mozart wrote out himself, is a duet rather than a solo.

Second movement (Andante). This movement, in C minor, is the heart of the work, and one of the most sorrowful pieces Mozart had yet written. It is often linked with the death of his mother the year before, although Mozart left no word about it. The violin and viola trade long, grieving phrases, each echoing and extending the other, before joining in a closing duet. Listen for the moment when the viola takes up the violin’s melody: the lower, darker instrument makes the same music sound even sadder.

Third movement (Presto). Sorrow gives way to joy in a quick, sparkling finale. The orchestra starts a cheerful, dance-like tune, and the soloists join in with running passages. They chase each other higher and higher, trade quick figures, and finally race together to a brilliant close.