Violin Concerto No. 3 in G Major

Measured on the scale of inventive brilliance alone, the Violin Concerto No. 3 would surely rank among the finest instrumental works of the late 18th century. Mozart was only 19 when he created it in September 1775, an astonishing achievement given the composition’s strikingly mature blend of formal balance, rhetorical eloquence, expressive nuance and sublime lyricism. His handling of sonata form in the first movement offers an insight into Mozart’s ability to craft an instantly memorable main melody and develop it in a multitude of ways without obscuring its original identity. The central “Adagio” unfolds in the shape of a da capo aria, a three-part form reducible to the simplest of A-B-A schemes. Its structure supports an exquisitely beautiful solo violin melody, an all-too-rare mirror of human perfection graced by the addition of two flutes to the orchestra. There is no slacking of creativity in the concerto’s delightful “Rondeau – Allegro” finale, which includes a contrasting episode in G minor followed by another based on a folk-like dance apparently known to Mozart as “the ‘Strassburg’ melody”.