Chiharu Sai

Mozart: the Proportional Function of the Cadenza: Mozart's Sense of Symmetry Within the Sonata-allegro Concerto Form Chiharu Sai

This book demonstrates the proportional function of the cadenza in the first movements of Mozart's piano concertos and, specifically, the cadenza's role in helping to counter-balance the proportional gap between the exposition and the recapitulation created by the double-exposition feature of the Classical concerto form. It investigates Mozart's sense of symmetry within the sonata-allegro concerto form, which he powerfully expresses in the proportionally balanced construction of his music, and how symmetry functions as an underlying principle in the achievement of proportional balance between the exposition and recapitulation in the first movements of his piano concertos. Also, this book seeks to establish possible criteria as to how this sense of symmetry may inform the performer/composer of the concerto/cadenza in creating a cadenza of appropriate duration for the first movements of Mozart's piano concertos for which the original cadenzas are missing (KV466, 467, 482, 491, 503, and 537) and to verify the compositional and proportional integrity of the cadenza.