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Among other music purchased this summer I finally picked up a copy of a 1988 publication by Edition Kunzelmann, the Rondo in D for horn and orchestra KV 412 (386b) [or K 514]. This is the “alternate” last movement of the concerto we know today as Mozart I.
As background, there is a rather compelling theory that Mozart did not actually compose Mozart I, that it is actually a work by his hornist friend Leutgeb that Mozart worked over to improve. (Much more on that topic here). The Rondo movement we normally use in Mozart I is actually by Fr. X. Süssmayr (of Mozart Requiem fame), who worked over the same themes of Leutgeb differently than did Mozart in the version that this review focuses upon.
As to this version, to quote the introduction by Franz Beyer,
The solo part is complete in the autograph of the sketch of the score, but the orchestral lines are only complete up to bar 40. In what follows Mozart has only given indications in the part of Violin I for what he intended to elaborate later.
But Mozart did find time to add, in Italian, a number of humorous indications for Leutgeb. Of them Beyer quotes Franz Giegling, noting that
When Mozart sketched this Rondo in 1791, Leutgeb was already 59 years old. The comments which Mozart wrote into the horn part for his friend must not simply be considered as a joke, but they also give expression to the difficulties which Leutgeb had with high notes in his advanced years.
The commentary runs through the entire movement, with this example from the middle, in the English translation,
brave, my poorest … you make me laugh … help … take a breath … forward, forward … this is a little better … again not finished?
This version has been recorded several times (the Lowell Greer recording on natural horn comes to mind for me – the movement in question in the Amazon listing is listed as being K 514, the K number used for the Breitkopf and Haertel edition). The brief excerpt on Amazon is a good one, as it highlights a section with different thematic material than the standard version. This is a movement that any serious horn player who is a fan of Mozart needs to own music for and be familiar with.
