Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Klavierkonzert c-moll KV 491

Composed under time pressure, edited in peace: K. 491
Mozart was pressed for time in the spring of 1786: there were just two weeks between the composition and first performance of the C minor Piano Concerto K. 491. It is therefore not surprising that the autograph is written extremely cursorily and that the piano part is even partially sketched. Mozart, who played the solo part at the premiere, had it in mind anyway. In later revisions of the piano part, he caused confusion by making corrections and parallel versions. The editor, Ernst Herttrich thus faced great challenges in preparing the "Breitkopf Urtext" edition, especially since printed editions only appeared posthumously. After all, they contain readings that play an important role in the reception of the work and are included in the new edition as variants.