Piano Forum

ok.  i learned that when mozart was creating his piano concertos - the first had lead-ins (eingange) and some cadenzas that were 'unmetered.'  they did not have 'exact exact' counting - but followed the idea of 'improvisation.'  there are no bar lines existing in  (have to look at which pc cadenza - one of the earliest ones) them.  then as time went on, he made them more precise.  but, when he played them - they were improvised and just played as he felt them.

in this fantasy you have two 'mini' cadenzas (after the fermatas).  you just play away!  it's a fantasy.

i have several versions of a paper that i wrote entitled 'what is an appropriate cadenza for a mozart piano concerto?'  i mostly analyzed the existing cadenzas of mozart, but then also analyzed other composers cadenzas too.  here's more of an explaination of what was occurring compositionally:

'wolfgang amadeus mozart was a composer who wrote concertos not only for himself, but for his sister nannerl, for various students, and for certain performers he had in mind.  in this paper the eighteenth-century cadenza will take on many varied forms, yet for the most part be quite simple.  instead of proving a single performance thesis, what will be sought out will be an historical understanding of the classical cadenza with varying interpretations according to the particular purpose and style of the mozart concerto and/or performer.  mozart had a tendency to write out cadenzas to his piano concertos, thus leaving a trail of 'improvisation lead sheets' for those who now study the remaining original cadenzas and lead-ins (eingange).  today, we might think in terms of jazz musicians using skeletal riffs and expanding upon them.  mozart followed the baroque practice of improvising short, unaccompanied passages at points of rest separating, for example, a largo from an allegro section.  baroque cadenzas were usually concise - 'perhaps a mere flourish of notes' - but they conveniently and dramatically introduced soloists who would appear alone afterwards.  corelli used short cadenzas in his op. 5 solo church sonatas.  basically, the lead-in (eingange) is a brief improvised passage that leads to a true solo passage (or makes us aware of a repeat with more improvisation to it).  in mozart, as opposed to corelli, the musical separation is not the concertino from the tutti, but rather the piano from the orchestra leading to the piano alone.  or, if the lead-in occurs at the end of a cadenza, it lead the orchestra back in gradually.

definition of the cadenza in the eighteenth century

we have many sources for a definition of the cadenza in the eighteenth century. some theorist/composer/performers of the time include johann quantz, leopold mozart, cpe bach, and daniel gottleib turk...quantz and bach were of the 'old school' of thought in that they believed an instrumental cadenza should be most like a singer's cadenza and capable of being executed in a single breath.  gb mancini, a singing teacher at the imperial court in vienna, (though realizing that the one breath rule was often broken) added his ideas in that there should be a relationship of improvised passages to the thematic material.  during the eighteenth century there was no uniform opinion on this.
quantz suggested that a singer who could not think of something new with which to begin a cadenza should choose instead one of the most attractive motifs fromt he aria and build a cadenza from it.  if the record of the century's greatest composers is anything to go by, js bach, his sons, haydn and mozart all composed non-thematic cadenzas and only from about 1779 onwards do mozart's cadenzas begin to quote or develop thematic material from the concerto to which they belong. (1/2 paragraph quoted from dr.badura-skoda and dr. william drabkin - under 'cadenza' in the new grove dictionary.

anyhew...the improvisational beginning of the cadenza with voice led to other instruments following suit whenever a fermata was encountered.  in fact, the word cadenza is also called 'cadence' or 'fermata.'  in italian; arbitrio, point d'orgue.  during this quiet time where the accompaniment pauses or sustains a pitch or chord, a passage is played by a soloist that is either improvised or written out over the penultimate or ante penultimate note or harmony of the cadence....

trills signalling the beginning and ending of cadenzas are mentioned by quantz in 'the art of playing the german flute.'  he speaks of trills in the context of the messe di voce.  the player is warned not to use the embellishment too often.  there were guidelines from tromlitz that summed up the standard useage of trills at the end of the eighteenth century.  "the vibrato (bebung) is a wave-like, quivering movement that is introduced on a long held note, which can be slow or fast, uniform, increasing or decreasing...it can be used on held notes, pauses, and on the note before a cadenza."  once the cadenza is established by this trill, there is a general theory about what shoudl follow written by daniel gottlieb turk in his 'klavierschule (1789).'  he lamented the practice of making extrememly lengthy cadences that had little to do witht he piece they were meant to embellish and drew up a list of ten rules governing cadenzas. 

1. the cadenza should reinforce the impression made by the composition by providing a brief summary of it; this may be achieved by weaving some of the important ideas from the piece into the cadenza.
2.the cadenza should not be difficult for it's own sake, but rather contain thoughts that are suited to the main character of the composition.
3. the cadenza should not be too  long, especially in sad compositions.
4. modulations should be avoided or used only in passing, and should never stray beyond the maind keys established in the piece.
5. the cadenza, in addition to expressing a unified sentiment, must have some musical variety to maintain a listener's interest.
6. ideas should not be repeated, either in the same key or in different keys.
7. dissonances, even in single-voiced cadenzas, must be properly resolved.
8. a cadenza need not be learnt, but should show 'novelty', wit and an abundance of ideas.
9. in a cadenza the performer should not stay in ONE TEMPO or METRE too long, but should give the idea of 'ordered disorder.' a cadenza may be usefully compared to a dream, in which events that have been compressed into the space of a few minutes make an impression, yet lack of coherence and clear conciousness.
10. a cadenza should be performed as though it had just occurred to the performer.  nevertheless, it is risky to improvise a cadenza ont he spot, and much safer to write it down.

*note:  i made a point to argue in my paper against the modern theory that mozart didn't write many of his cadenzas down (because he improvised so much).  though it is true that he did improvise - he kept a separate folio of his cadenzas (for himself - away from publishers) - and several scholars such as margaret mikulsa believe that from letters we can deduce that many WERE written and that perhaps there was a loss of a second more or less complete portfolio of cadenzas.  history indicates (my words) that during world war I, much was destroyed in germany and austria.  could it be that mozart wrote more cadenzas than discovered?  (mozart jealously guarded his personal performance materials in order to ensure, in particular, that his concerto scores were not copied without his authorisation.  regarding the cadenzas he seems to have taken a similarly protective stand (faye ferguson).