Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)

Violin Concerto in G major
No. 3
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Key	G major
Catalogue	K. 216
Composed	1775 (1775)
Movements	Three (Allegro, Adagio, Rondeau)
Scoring	Violin orchestra

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. Mozart called it in a letter to his father the 'Straßburger-Concert', and researchers believe this epithet comes from the opening orchestral motive in the third movement, a local, minuet-like dance that had already appeared as a tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin, two flutes (second movement only), two oboes (tacet in the second movement), two horns in G and D, and strings.

Movements

The piece is in three movements:

1. Allegro
2. Adagio
3. Rondeau: Allegro

I. Allegro

The Allegro is in sonata form, opening with a G major theme played by the orchestra. The main theme is a bright and happy discussion between the solo violin and the accompaniment, followed by a modulation to the dominant D major, then to its parallel key D minor. It experiments in other keys but does not settle and eventually heads back to the tonic, G major, in the recapitulation.

II. Adagio

The second movement is in ternary form in the dominant key of D major. The orchestra begins with the main theme, which the violin imitates one octave higher. The winds then play a dance-like motif in A major, which the violin concludes. The violin restates the main theme in A major, although the melody features A sharp instead of A natural, creating a brief modulation to B minor. It soon modulates back to A major, then to the home key of D major through the main theme. After the cadenza, the violin plays the main theme again, thus concluding the movement in D.

This is the only movement in five violin concertos by Mozart where instead of oboes a pair of flutes are used.

III. Rondeau

The finale is a rondo in G major and in ³
₈ time. Mozart inserts into the rondo a short G minor Andante section followed by a longer G major Allegretto section, both in cut time.

Notable recordings

Year	Violin	Conductor	Orchestra	Record company	Format
1962	Arthur Grumiaux	Colin Davis	London Symphony Orchestra	Philips Records	Vinyl
1969	Henryk Szeryng	Alexander Gibson	New Philharmonia Orchestra	Philips Records	Multiple
1971 (03-23)	David Oistrakh	David Oistrakh	Berliner Philharmoniker	EMI Records	Multiple
1983	Itzhak Perlman	James Levine	Wiener Philharmoniker	Deutsche Grammophon	Multiple
1984	Anne-Sophie Mutter	Herbert von Karajan	Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra	Deutsche Grammophon	Multiple
1987	Takako Nishizaki	Stephen Gunzenhauser	Cappella Istropolitana	Naxos Records	CD
2007	Hilary Hahn	Gustavo Dudamel	Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart des SWR	Deutsche Grammophon	Multiple

External links

•  Concerto in G K. 216: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Violin Concerto No. 3: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project