Mozart: The Flute and Harp Concerto KV 299
Flute is one of my favorite musical instruments, and its softness and clear sonorities always speak to my heart. When musicians play the flute in its highest register, its sound is as bright as a wisp of fresh sunlight in the morning. When played low, its graceful bass voice is like a misty taste of moonlight. The flute's elegant sound and diverse musical skills make it not only an important solo instrument, but also one that frequently serves a main position in the orchestra. Compared to the flute, which is a woodwind, the harp is a string instrument. It is an ancient instrument which has an incomparably beautiful sound, especially when playing arpeggios and glissando. The harp's volume is sometimes gentle and sometimes mysterious. Because of its rich and exquisite sound, the harp always represents special colors and fills orchestras and operas with a poetic atmosphere. Combining these two incredibly gorgeous musical instruments perfectly, the way W. A. Mozart did in his Flute and Harp Concerto, KV 299, produces magical effects.
The concert's history began when Mozart travelled to Paris in 1778 and met an amateur flautist - the Duke of Guines. The Duke's daughter was an excellent harp player who studied composition with Mozart, so the Duke commissioned Mozart to write a piece for flute and harp, ultimately the only music Mozart created for harp.[1] Unfortunately, it is generally known that the flute was not a music instrument which Mozart liked. The reason probably was that the all woodwind instruments were not made perfectly at his time: “The holes being bored very much to suit the natural spread of the fingers, thus causing several notes to be out of tune unless blown with great care."[2] It was scarcely endurable to this talented composer for writing music with this defective instrument but actually it delighted all of the audience. Therefore, the flute frequently appears in his orchestral work, and he also wrote several concertos for flute. Although Mozart had a strong aversion to flute, he still composed flute repertoires successfully. The Flute and Harp Concerto KV 299 was created with not only a delicate and elaborate sound, but also dramatic expression and subtle changes in every part of the music.
Mozart wrote the concerto in Classical concerto archetype, which is a fast-slow-fast form. In the beginning of the first movement, all of the instruments besides flute and harp - oboe, clarinet and strings - play forte in unison, a brilliant opening to attract the audience. Only after two measures, the composer gives the audience a surprise: he suddenly changes orchestration to oboe and strings with soft sounds. This short passage is quickly followed by a series of alteration between soft and strong dynamics. In the development, harp sometimes accompanies a flute, sometimes becoming the main part and the orchestra decorates it. The fountain-like sound of the harp and crisp sound of the flute create a vivid music, like a landscape painting.
The second movement opens with a twelve measure lyrical melody in strings which becomes the theme and leads the music to the movement's end. Flute and harp take up the theme unexpectedly in the thirteenth measure. After that, the flute sometimes plays duet with the harp, or they provide background for each other. The orchestra imitates the melody of the flute and harp, and supports them with continuous harmony. In this movement, the flute and harp present the music dramatically with their melodious and harmonious sounds with orchestra. It is an incredible experience to have both cheerful and sentimental feelings at the same time, but Mozart is an unquestionable master who manages it with greatness.
A conventional character of concerto form in the Classical period is that the third movement is a Rondo. The strings bring the vibrant and lively theme, and winds reinforce the theme by thirds and sixth. After a brilliant tutti ensemble, the theme is next taken up by the harp with a graceful and lighthearted tone, and followed by the flute leading to the G major theme. Mozart made multifarious subtle alterations on both instrumentation and orchestration, such as adding notes on the theme, or imitating a dialogue based on shared thematic material between the harp and flute, soloists and orchestra. Movement finishes with a florid and magnificent ending.
Undoubtedly, this is an unequivocally successful work for Mozart. He perfectly connected two distinctive music instruments - flute and harp - which were an uncommon combination in the 18th century. Stewart Gordon wrote, “Although Mozart’s music often seems bright and serene to the casual listener, it harbors beneath its surface qualities that are deep and profound with underlying tenderness and melancholy.”[3] These are the best words to demonstrate this unique and magnificent work- The Flute and Harp Concerto KV 299, which deserves a special place in the history of Western music.
1 Zaslaw, Neal. “Notes.” Second Series, Vol. 42, No. 2 (Dec., 1985), pp. 387-388
2. Ward, Martha Kingdon. "Mozart and the Flute." Music & Letters, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct., 1954), pp. 294-308
3. Gordon, Stewart. A History of Keyboard Literature: Music for the Piano and Its Forerunners, New York: Schirmer Books, 1996.
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