# Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. In a letter to his father, Mozart called it the "Straßburg-Concert". Researchers believe this epithet comes from the motive in the third movement's Allegretto in the central section, a local dance that already had appeared as a musette-imitating tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

## Instrumentation

The work is scored for solo violin, two flutes (second movement only), two oboes (tacet in the second movement), two horns in G and D, and strings.

## Movements

The piece is in three movements:
* Allegro
* Adagio in D major
* Rondeau: Allegro

### I. Allegro

The Allegro is in sonata form, opening with a G major theme played by the orchestra. The main theme is a bright and happy discussion between the solo violin and the accompaniment, followed by a modulation to the dominant D major, then to its parallel key D minor. It experiments in other keys, but does not settle and eventually, heads back to the tonic, G major, in the recapitulation.

### II. Adagio

The second movement is in ternary form in the dominant key of D major. The orchestra begins with the main theme, which the violin imitates one octave higher. The winds then play a dance-like motif in A major, which the violin concludes. The violin restates the main theme in A major, although the melody features A sharp instead of A natural, creating a brief modulation to B minor. It soon modulates back to A major, then to the home key of D major through the main theme. After the cadenza, the violin plays the main theme again, thus concluding the movement in D.
This is the only movement in the five violin concertos by Mozart where a pair of flutes are used instead of oboes.

### III. Rondeau

The finale is a rondo in G major and in $^3$ $_8$ time. Mozart inserts into the rondo a short G minor Andante section followed by a longer G major Allegretto section, both in cut time.

## Recordings

| Year | Violin | Conductor | Orchestra | Record company | Format |
| 1935 | Yehudi Menuhin | George Enescu | Orchestre symphonique de Paris | EMI Records | Multiple |
| 1962 | Arthur Grumiaux | Colin Davis | London Symphony Orchestra | Philips Records | Vinyl |
| 1969 | Henryk Szeryng | Alexander Gibson | New Philharmonia Orchestra | Philips Records | Multiple |
| 1971 | David Oistrakh | David Oistrakh | Berlin Philharmonic | EMI Records | Multiple |
| 1978, Feb. 13-19 | Anne-Sophie Mutter | Herbert von Karajan | Berlin Philharmonic | Deutsche Grammophon | Multiple |
| 1983 | Itzhak Perlman | James Levine | Vienna Philharmonic | Deutsche Grammophon | Multiple |
| 1987 | Takako Nishizaki | Stephen Gunzenhauser | Cappella Istropolitana | Naxos Records | CD |
| 1989 | Franco Gulli | Bruno Giuranna | Orchestra da Camera di Padova e del Veneto | Claves | CD |
| 2007 | Hilary Hahn | Gustavo Dudamel | Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra | Deutsche Grammophon | Multiple |
| 2016 | Isabelle Faust | Giovanni Antonini | Il Giardino Armonico | Harmonia Mundi | CD |
| 2021 | Viktoria Mullova | Oliver Zeffman | Academy of St Martin in the Fields | Platoon | Digital |