About this edition
Composed in Salzburg in October 1775, Mozart's Violin Concerto No. 4 in D major, K.218 is one of the crowning achievements of the composer's remarkable nineteen-year-old summer and autumn, when he produced the sequence of five violin concertos that would define the Classical concerto tradition. The work is distinguished by its regal opening fanfare — a gesture Mozart may have borrowed from Boccherini — its lyrical central Andante cantabile, and a finale that famously alternates between a courtly gavotte and a rustic musette, complete with a surprising quotation of a popular Strasbourg folk tune. Along with K.219, it remains the most frequently performed of the five and a cornerstone of every violinist's repertoire.
This edition reproduces the score as it appeared in the landmark Mozarts Werke collected edition, published by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig in 1877 (Serie XII, Band 1, No. 4, plate W.A.M. 218). Edited by the distinguished pianist and conductor Ernst Rudorff (1840–1916) — a founding professor of the Berlin Hochschule and a trusted colleague of Brahms and Joachim — this text was the first modern critical edition of Mozart's complete works and remained the standard scholarly source for well over half a century. Its clarity of engraving, careful editorial judgment, and historical proximity to nineteenth-century Mozart performance traditions continue to make it a valuable reference for performers and scholars alike.
About this edition:
- Full orchestral score (solo violin with strings, two oboes, and two horns)
- Page size: 8.5 x 11 inches, printed for clarity and ease of study
- Faithful reproduction of the 1877 Breitkopf & Härtel plates
- Reproduced from a public domain historical source
- Published by Purple 4R Publishing
This edition brings a historically significant public domain score back into the hands of today's musicians, students, and scholars. We're delighted to help keep this beloved concerto accessible, well-printed, and ready for the stand.
