Music for 2 Keyboards - Mozart: Piano Concerto in G Major, K. 453, Allegretto

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At the crossroads of two finales
In the previous entry, I discussed the unusual slow movement of Mozart’s G major concerto, K. 453, in comparison to other slow movements of his concerti. Given that various slow movements of Mozart concerti have a lot in common, such a comparison is apt. With last movements of Mozart concerti, however, we see a much more varied body of work. Finales of Mozart concerti differ greatly in size, structure, rhythmic character, and much more. That said, some features in finales are common and others are rare. Having a last movement of a Mozart concerto take the form of Theme and Variations is quite rare, but such is the form of the last movements of the G major concerto and of the C minor concerto, K. 491, written two years later in 1786. The two concerti could not be more contrasting to one another, which makes the similarities between their two finales all the more fascinating, especially when considering that a major third work of Mozart becomes germane, something I will get to later.
When examining these two movements, many similarities emerge: both begin with the theme introduced by the strings, followed by a first variation in legato eighth notes and a virtuosic second variation (in the C minor concerto, we also have a virtuosic third variation). Then, both finales “calm down” with a more mellow variation, followed by a section in either the parallel minor (in the case of the G major concerto) or major (in the case of the C minor). Next, in both cases we hear the theme emerge in a vastly different way to how it was presented in the beginning. Here, however, the interesting divergences begin. In the G major finale, Mozart flamboyantly reintroduces G major in a comic and slightly gauche passage, which is answered by the original theme in the high register of the keyboard, creating a comic imbalance between the full orchestra and the weak register of the keyboard (even weaker on Mozart’s fortepiano than on the modern concert grand). In the C minor finale, the theme isn’t an answer to any introduction, it is the main statement, answered by anguished scales that get more and more intense as the theme unravels in the orchestra.
In both finales, Mozart writes a fermata, upon which an Eingang (an improvised transition) is played. Following that, we have perhaps the most fascinating bifurcation of all. In the C minor concerto, the final variation has the most elaborate and poignant transformation of the theme. No matter how ornamental Mozart’s figurations may be, their connection to the theme is still absolutely clear. In the G major concerto, however, Mozart marks the section as a separate “Finale,” and introduces an entirely new theme, that is lot sillier and less substantive than the original one. The music eventually “finds its way” back to the theme of the movement, but in the process, Mozart becomes more theatrical and slapsticky.
The C minor concerto was written at the same time as Le Nozze di Figaro, whose KV number is 492. Indeed, the two are known to mirror each other, as Le Nozze is almost entirely in major, whereas the concerto is undoubtedly one of Mozart’s most dark and dire works (one must simply compare the triumphant ending of the D minor concerto to the desperate ending of the C minor concerto to see the scope of tragedy in K. 491). However, we see in the finale of K. 453 yet another mirror image of K. 491, which becomes even more intriguing when considering how similar the ending of the G major concerto is to a finale of an Opera buffa act. Mozart, perhaps more often than other composers, cross-referenced his own works, and the juxtaposition of these three iconic works makes it into one of my favorite instances of musical self-reflection.
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