7 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 7the first two sections, “Kyrie” and “Gloria,” were completed.
Among the influences on this music, besides the Austrian
ecclesiastical tradition, was the music of the Baroque
period, noticeable especially in the spare textures and aus-
tere lines of certain of the solo numbers. Mozart and his
wife visited Salzburg in the summer and autumn of 1783,
when the completed movements of the mass were
performed.
The Central Viennese Period
Back in Vienna Mozart entered on what was to be the
most fruitful and successful period of his life. In 1782–83
he wrote three piano concertos (K 413–415), which he pub-
lished in 1785 with string and optional wind parts. Six more
followed in 1784, three each in 1785 and 1786 and one each
in 1788 and 1791. With the 1784 group he established a new
level of piano concerto writing; these concertos are at
once symphonic, melodically rich, and orchestrally inge-
nious, and they also blend the virtuoso element effectively
into the musical and formal texture of the work. After the
1784 group (K 449, 450, 451, 453, 456, and 459), all of which
begin with themes stated first by the orchestra and later
taken up by the piano, Mozart moved on in the concertos
of 1785 (K 466, 467, and 482) to make the piano solo a rein-
terpretation of the opening theme. The 1786 group begins
with the lyrical K 488, but then follow two concertos with
a new level of symphonic unity and grandeur, that in C
Minor (K 491), and the concerto in C Major (K 503).
Mozart’s other important contributions of this time
come in the fields of chamber and piano music. The out-
pouring of 1784 included the fine piano sonata K 457 and
the piano and violin sonata K 454. He also wrote a quintet
for piano and wind instruments (K 452), which he consid-
ered his finest work to date. The six string quartets on