Between Performance and Notation: How did Carl Reinecke understand Mozart’s piano concerto No.26 K.537?

Mako Kodama

　Carl Reinecke (1824-1910) was a German composer, pianist, conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and professor at the Leipzig Conservatory. His piano performances were admired by Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann and Franz Liszt, and he was reputed as "the greatest and most sincere Mozart player of his time."However, you may be surprised on listening for the first time to his performances preserved on piano rolls, since there is noticeable use of expressive practices such as manual asynchrony, unnotated arpeggiation, and rubato (flexibility of rhythm and tempo), which is quite far from the kind of performance style that is considered good today. 　This research clarifies the features of the performance practices audible in early piano rolls, such as those by Reinecke. It focuses on how he arranged and notated the Larghetto from Mozart's Piano Concerto No.26 K.537 for piano solo, how he performed it on piano roll (1905), and how he described the performance of the movement in his book Zur Wiederbelebung der Mozart'schen Clavier-Concerte (1891). The discrepancies between the three source materials give an insight into the implied performance practices of Reinecke’s time and his tacit knowledge. The research culminates with personal experimentation and reflection on how these performance practices can expand the freedom and possibilities of the author’s performances.

I would like to thank the following people for helping me with this research project:

- My research supervisor, Wouter Verschuren, who always encouraged me and set milestones.

- My fortepiano teachers, Bart van Oort and Petra Somlai, who gave me intensive weekly lessons over the last three years.

- Richard Egarr and Bert Mooiman, who inspired me greatly in chamber music and improvisation lessons.

- Neal Peres Da Costa, with whom it was a surprise and a pleasure for me to talk with to get a deeper perspective on emulating Reinecke's performance, even though it was less

than 10 days before the deadline.

- Ai Horton, who helped correct my English throughout the text; Eduardo Gaspar Polo Baader, who checked my translations of some German quotes; and (including the two just

mentioned) all my friends and chamber music partners! They have always given me the pleasure of performing and exploring flexibility in music together! Thank you for always

caring and checking in to see if my research is going well.

- Finally, I would like to thank my family in Japan for all their love and support.

Acknowledgements

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