Horn Concerto No. 4 in E♭ — 1st movement

W. A. MozartK. 495

Key

Eb

Time

C

Tempo

♩=120

AO focus

AO1

Form

Allegro maestoso — sonata form. Mozart wrote four horn concertos for his friend Joseph Leutgeb; this is the last and the most polished. Hand-stopping technique was the only way Leutgeb could play chromatic notes (the natural horn had no valves).

Teaching points

• Hand-stopping — discuss how the natural horn's open harmonic series is augmented by the player's right hand inside the bell. Watch the YouTube video
• Sonata form in the soloist's exposition — soloist enters after a long orchestral ritornello (typical for Classical concertos)
• AO1: standard final-year horn audition piece — familiar to any university music programme