Concerto in B-flat Major for Bassoon and Orchestra KV 191 (186e) - Study Score

Throughout his career Mozart had a special feeling for the wind instruments. Not only did he add a distinctive flavor to the wind band in his orchestral music - indeed, his writing for winds became a defining and inimitable feature of his music - he also wrote compositions for wind players in his circle of friends.

The autograph score has disappeared, and all that has come down to us is a set of printed parts published by Andre in Offenbach for the first time.

This is Mozart´s very first wind concerto altogether.

The relation between the solist and the orchestra is not so much one of opposition as of complementarity, the bassoon embroidering the bass line in „leaps and runs" in much the same manner as, say, figured basses were once treated by the viola da gamba. The solo part, rather than being virtuoso and domineering, enters into a dialogue with the „lively participation of the orchestra".