Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra (Mozart)
Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major, K. 299/297c, carries two unusual distinctions. It is the only piece of music he ever wrote for the harp. It is also one of just two true double concertos he composed, the other being his Piano Concerto No. 10. Listeners love it, and recordings devoted to either of its two solo instruments often include it. Yet this sunny piece comes with a good deal of baggage. Who asked for it, and what became of the money? Why would a composer write for an instrument and never return to it? And how can one critic hear pure charm in the music while others dismiss it as hackwork?
In April 1778, during a seven-month stay in Paris, Mozart wrote the concerto for Adrien-Louis de Bonnières, duc de Guînes. The duke was a flutist. His eldest daughter, Marie-Louise-Philippine, played the harp and was taking composition lessons from Mozart at the family home, the Hôtel de Castries.
In a letter to his father, Mozart said the duke played the flute "extremely well" and called Marie's harp playing "magnifique". As a composition pupil, however, she struck him as thoroughly inept. The duke had been the comte de Guines until 1776, and Mozart came to despise him.
The composer never received payment for the concerto. The lessons were a separate debt, since Mozart was owed six Louis d'or for tutoring. The duke's housekeeper offered him only half the expected fee, and Mozart refused it.
Very little is known about the early performances of the piece. It seems probable that the duke and his daughter played it first.
In the classical period, the harp was still being developed and had no secure place in the standard orchestra. Many musicians treated it as a kind of plucked piano. Putting a harp beside a flute was therefore considered extremely unusual.
Today the picture is different. There is far more music for flute and harp as a duo, usually without any orchestra. Much of it was written by composers of the nineteenth century.
Mozart himself may have had a dubious opinion of the instrument, because he never wrote another work that used it. Paris gave him a ready template, though. The sinfonia concertante, a form that features several soloists, was extremely popular in the city at the time, and this concerto is essentially built in that mold.
Mozart's own Sinfonia Concertante for Violin, Viola, and Orchestra could just as easily be called a double concerto, so the labels in his output are not entirely tidy.
Joseph Legros, the director of the Concert Spirituel, played a quiet part in the making of this concerto. He let Mozart use the keyboard in his own home so that the composer could work. Mozart probably wrote most of the piece there.
He may also have written part of it at his second Paris apartment, on the rue du Gros Chenet, where he was staying with his mother.
Mozart quite likely shaped the music around the particular abilities of the duke and his daughter. That would explain why the writing suits both soloists so well.
The score calls for two oboes, two natural horns in C, strings, and the two soloists. The flute and harp trade the melody and the accompaniment between them. At times they play alongside the orchestra, and at other times they perform as a duo while the orchestra rests. In some passages they weave counterpoint with only each other.
The first movement is an Allegro. The orchestra lays out both themes, with the second introduced by the horn. Both follow conventional sonata form, and the soloists then rework the themes already heard.
The Andantino begins with short phrases from the strings that grow into lyrical, extended lines. These develop into four variations. After a cadenza at the end of the fourth variation, a coda brings the orchestra and the soloists together on the lyrical theme. This movement is in F major, and the horn is silent.
The finale is a Rondeau marked Allegro, laid out as A-B-A-C-A-B-A in a sonata-rondo form. Its one small twist is that the third appearance of the A theme turns up in the parallel minor. The piece closes with three forte C major chords.
Mozart wrote no cadenzas of his own for this concerto, which was normal for his compositions. Alfred Einstein claimed that Mozart's cadenzas for the work were lost. Performers have filled the gap in several ways.
The cadenzas by Carl Reinecke are the ones most commonly performed. Many flutists and harpists have written their own instead, and André Previn has also composed cadenzas for the piece. Several editions of the music exist as well.
Because the piece is technically and elegantly demanding for both soloists, chamber ensembles often play it. Orchestras also choose it to show off their own flutists and harpists.
Recordings are plentiful. James Galway has performed and recorded the concerto many times, with the harpists Fritz Helmis, Marisa Robles, and Ann Hobson Pilot.
Orrin Howard, a critic, called the concerto "utterly charming" and a fine example of enlightened salon music in which Mozart's individuality was starting to emerge. He joked that its three conventional movements hold more melodies than one could shake a flute at, and a harp too. In his view the writing is brilliant without being excessively virtuosic.
Hostile comment is rare for Mozart, but this work has drawn some. Charles Rosen devotes glowing pages of The Classical Style to Mozart's other concertos. He then calls K. 299 "hackwork" and says it would be unfair to Mozart to discuss it alongside the rest.
Patrick Mackie goes further. He describes the piece as "inconsequential" and hears in its "all but aggressive insipidity" a hint of the resentment Mozart felt toward the aristocratic amateurs who commissioned it.
Even Rosen concedes a point in the work's favor. He grants that Mozart's hackwork is "a lesser composer's inspiration" and that the craftsmanship is significant even here.
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Common questions
Who commissioned Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
Adrien-Louis de Bonnières, duc de Guînes, commissioned the concerto. He was a flutist, and he wanted the piece for himself and for his eldest daughter, Marie-Louise-Philippine, a harpist.
When did Mozart write the Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
Mozart wrote the concerto in April 1778, during a seven-month stay in Paris. He composed much of it at the home of Joseph Legros, director of the Concert Spirituel.
Was Mozart paid for the Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
No. The duke never paid for the concerto. Mozart was also offered only half the expected fee for the daughter's lessons, which he refused.
Did Mozart write any other music for the harp besides the Flute and Harp Concerto?
No. The Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra is the only piece Mozart wrote for the harp. In the classical period the harp was not a standard orchestral instrument.
What are the movements of Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
The concerto has three movements in a fast-slow-fast pattern: Allegro, Andantino, and Rondeau (Allegro). The Andantino is in F major and contains four variations.
Which cadenzas are used in Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
Mozart wrote no cadenzas of his own for the work. The cadenzas by Carl Reinecke are the most commonly used, and André Previn has also written cadenzas for the piece.
What do critics say about Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra?
Critics are divided. Orrin Howard calls the concerto utterly charming, while Charles Rosen calls it hackwork and Patrick Mackie calls it inconsequential.
All sources
12 references cited across the entry
- 2Discovery of an unpublished autograph manuscript by Mozart in the BnF Music DepartmentBibliothèque nationale de France — 19 June 2026
- 4Salzedo, Carlos. "Editing Mozart's Flute and Harp Concerto". American Harp Society. Vol. 18, No. 4, Winter 2002, p. 33.
- 8BookThe Classical StyleCharles Rosen — Norton — 1997
- 9BookMozart in Motion: His Work and His World in PiecesPatrick Mackie — Farrar, Straus and Giroux — 2023
- 10Spotify