Piano Concerto in A (fragment; sketch to K. 414)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Mozart’s Piano Concerto in A (fragment; a sketch to Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414) is a small surviving draft from Vienna in late 1782, when the 26-year-old composer was establishing himself as a freelance pianist-composer. The material is transmitted only as an incomplete sketch, closely tied to the concerto rather than a separate, performable work [1].
What Is Known
A short autograph sketch in A major survives for the first movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414, composed in Vienna in 1782 [1]. In the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe’s online catalogue of sketches, it is listed specifically as a “Sketch for the first movement of the concerto in A K. 414,” preserving only fragmentary working material rather than a continuous score [2].
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The sketch belongs to the period when Mozart, newly arrived in Vienna, was writing keyboard concertos intended for his own use in the city’s concert life and for sale in adaptable formats (with optional winds in some performances) [1].
Musical Content
What survives appears to be a condensed draft for the opening movement’s musical argument—musical ideas set down in outline, without the fully worked orchestral and solo texture found in the completed Allegro of K. 414 [1]. Even in this reduced state, the sketch points toward the concerto’s characteristic Viennese manner: clear thematic profile, balanced phrase structure, and a solo part conceived not as bravura display alone but as a fluent, singing protagonist within the orchestral frame.
[1] Mozarteum (Köchel Verzeichnis), work entry for K. 414, including dating (Vienna, 28 Dec 1782) and reference to the related sketch (KV⁶ 385o).
[2] DME Mozarteum, NMA Online table of contents (NMA X/30/3: Sketches), listing the “Sketch for the first movement of the concerto in A K. 414.”