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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Concerto No. 3 for Horn K.447
Mozart wrote four horn concerti for his friend Ignaz Leutgeb, a hornist who had played in the Salzburg orchestra. The Concerto No. 3 for Horn was written in 1787. Leutgeb moved to Vienna and opened a cheese shop, where he was able to earn a living while continuing to accept engagements as a hornist. Since he was considered a virtuoso, Mozart took advantage of his agile technique and wrote many skips, leaps, and flourishes in the horn concerti. Mozart's zest for humor reveals itself when he wrote one of the horn concerti with multi-colored ink. In the margins proceeding a particularly difficult technical passage, he would write comments like "Corragio" and near the end, "Thank Heavens! Enough, enough!"
-- program notes by Laurien Jones